Wicked Heart
by coffup
Summary: [SessKag] Kagome's living with her abusive drunk mom [Bro ran away]. Sesshoumaru finds himself bumping into her all the time. Why can't he keep away? Can he break through her icy facade and can she break through his?
1. One: Dreams

**Author Note: **I should be studying for my upcoming finals. Which start in less than five days. But instead, I'm going to edit this fanfiction to pieces. (And hopefully bring about some inspiration!)

The original A/N stated that I wrote this fiction out of boredom and also because I had nothing to do for two hours. And it was all written in third person. (What the hell was I **on**?) Oh, and apparently, I had a bright new retainer (although I have no clue as to how a retainer could be bright) and I was going to bite people with if they didn't review. Seriously… what the hell was I on? D:

**Summary:** (SessKag) Kagome's living with her abusive drunk mom Bro ran away. Sesshoumaru finds himself bumping into her all the time. Why can't he keep away? Can he break through her icy facade and can she break through his?

**Warning(s): **Unintentional OOC-ism, intentional misleading beginning, unbeta-ed.

**Rated: **M for mink, uh, mature.

**Last Edited: **Dec. 6, 2006

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**Wicked Heart**

**Chapter One:** Dreams

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The day was bright. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, even the clouds were light and fluffy, like whipped cream.

Today seemed to be perfect.

Yawning, Kagome walked into her bathroom, carrying her clothes under her arm, and took a quick shower, using loads of shampoo in her thick hair. She got out feeling refreshed and quickly brushed her teeth.

She pulled on a bright pink shirt. She sighed. She always felt happy when she wore pink. She looked into the mirror. Loved, she always felt loved when she wore it. She giggled at her early morning silliness. Grasping her dark-blue jeans, she jumped around for a while, trying to get her feet into the insanely small leg holes. Managing that, she yanked up and quickly buttoned her jeans. She pulled on a pair of ankle socks.

She giggled again. She seemed to be doing that a lot today.

She unwrapped the towel from around her head and blow-dried her still wet hair. Sighing, she ran a brush through it for a while. After that she let it fall gracefully onto her shoulders. She laughed. There was no way her hair was going to stay perfect all day without the help of one of her most loved beauty products. Ah, hair spray; what would she do without it? She shook a can and sprayed it over her hair, carefully cementing her hair in place. She was about to leave the bathroom when she realized that she still had to put on her makeup.

She grabbed a small tube of pink lip-gloss from her drawer. Looking into the mirror, she puckered up and applied just enough to make her lips "shimmer like the dewy petals of a flower caught in the early morning sun." Damn, that was a really long slogan for lip-gloss. She grabbed a bit of blusher and brushed a bit onto her face. Grasping her eye shadow box, she decided to be a "fresh pink." Honestly, Kagome had no idea as to how one pink was "fresher" than another. She giggled as she carefully coloured her eyelids. She blinked a few times and reached into her drawer for another one of her magical beauty products, mascara. Pulling her mouth into an 'O' she "lengthened and defined" her eyelashes. She grabbed a bottle of "Perfect Miko Diva Body Mist" from her counter and sprayed herself a few times.

She giggled yet again.

Walking out of her bathroom, she noted that she had left a piece of paper on her wood floor. Sighing at her messiness, she picked it up and placed it quickly in her wastebasket. She caught sight of her backpack and smiled. All of her homework was in there, all done and perfectly organized. Just the way she liked it.

She waltzed down the stairs, toting her bright yellow backpack behind her. She passed her cat and gave him a quick pat. He responded to her with a wonderful purr and wove himself through her legs as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

She sniffed and then smiled as the scent of freshly made pancakes reached her nose.

_Yay, pancakes! _

She hoped her mother had added extra chocolate chips. She giggled and walked into the kitchen.

"Kagome!" cried her mother. "I hope you had a good night's sleep?" She waved a spatula in the air. "I just made a fresh batch of chocolate chip pancakes. Go sit with Souta."

Kagome smiled and slid into the seat across from her younger brother. She placed her bag next to her feet. Souta was smiling between bites of pancakes. He had smothered them in his favourite topping, purple grape jelly. He mouthed "Good morning," to her as she settled down.

"Just great Mom! I haven't slept like that in ages!" Her mom smiled and put an incredibly high stack of pancakes in front of her. "Mom! I can't eat this much!" She smiled and dug her fork into the stack.

"Aw, c'mon sweetie! You haven't been eating much lately! Eat up!" Her mother turned to the counter and grabbed a paper bag. Kagome realized just how thoughtful her mother was. "Here's your lunch. Extra big!" She placed it in Kagome's bag for her. Her mother smiled at her and then went back to the stove.

"Yeah Kagome! You're way too thin. Look at you!" said Souta between mouthfuls. "You're so skinny!"

It was at that point that Grandpa walked in. "I KNEW IT! You're anorexic aren't you? AREN'T YOU?"

Kagome gave him a funny look. "What?" She looked up at him, fork frozen halfway to her mouth, a bit of dripping pancake hanging off the edge. He looked at her through narrowed lids. Then he stalked closer and closer to her until their noses were almost touching.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Checking to see if your eyes are dilated. Anorexic people have dilated pupils." He continued to stare deep into her eyes and then suddenly turned away. "No, I was wrong, you're not anorexic!"

His voice sounded weird; it was more garbled than usual. She gave him a weird look. When he turned around his face was bulging.

She looked to her stack of pancakes and noticed that it was only half as high as it had been a minute before.

She stared at her grandfather, flabbergasted, and caught sight of her brother laughing into his pancakes.

"Mom! Did you see what Grandpa just did?"

"No, dear. Eat your pancakes."

Kagome scowled into her pancakes. Grandpa's face was stuffed, making him look like a swollen jack-o-lantern.

"Mess with my pancakes will you?" she whispered under her breath.

She quickly finished her pancakes sparing one precious bite-sized piece. She placed it on her fork. Then, she flung the bit of pancake at her grandfather's ear while he wasn't looking and speedily got up to put her plate and fork into the sink.

"SOUTA!" came Grandpa's yell. Kagome focused on keeping her back straight. She would not show that she was about to burst into giggles at any second.

"What?" mumbled Souta over yet another mouthful of pancakes.

Kagome giggled despite her intentions. She placed a kiss on her mother's cheek. "I'll be home late. I have to check out some books at the library with a friend."

"How dare you waste pancakes!" Her grandfather had swallowed and was staring at Souta with an expression of great loathing on his face.

"What? What are you talking about?" Souta's voice came out garbled and confused. He had better things to do than be confused. Like stuff himself with his mother's delicious pancakes.

"All right. Be good, dear. Have fun and be careful!" Her mother returned the kiss and then turned to tend to the yummy pancakes.

"Bye Grandpa! Bye Souta!" Kagome yelled as she grabbed her bag. She knew she had to get out of there before they figured out what she had done.

"PANCAKES! And the fact that you're wasting them! How dare you waste even a bit of the almighty pancake!"

"But… I didn't!"

Kagome giggled and walked out of the house. Life was so funny. As she walked down the street, she felt the sun shining down on her back. It was good to be alive. She smiled and twirled around in a circle as she walked down the sidewalk.

Mornings were always her favourite time of day. The sun was always shining, the birds were always chirping, Grandpa was always screaming at her to stop because she forgot her lunch, the sky was always bright. She paused.

Grandpa was always screaming at her to stop because she forgot her lunch?

She stopped and turned around to face Grandpa. He waved at her, his face contorted oddly. "Kagome, you almost forgot your lunch!"

"Aw Grandpa, you know I don't do it on purpose!" She grinned at him. "Do you still think I'm anorexic?"

"Anorexic?" His brow scrunched up.

"Yeah!" She sighed and tousled his old man hair, and, oddly, he didn't flinch away. She frowned. "You're probably starting to lose your memory." She rolled her eyes at him and then grinned.

"What? Oh…oh yes…. Anorexic. I called you that." He smiled.

She smiled back at him but frowned inside.Perhaps it was time for her mother to take Grandpa in for a check-up. She felt worried. She had a soft spot in her heart for the old man, even if he was kind of psychotic and way too zealous for his own good. He _was_ her grandpa after all. "Yeah."

"Take the lunch bag."

She looked at him. What was up with his voice? All of a sudden it seemed all creepy. And… ancient?

Her ears were messing up.

_Note to self: No more loud classical sonatas late at night._

"**Take… the… bag.**"

Her grandfather looked straight into her eyes.

"**Kagome. Take the lunch bag. Take… it."**

She took a step away from him. Her ears were fine. Grandpa's voice, on the other hand, was messed and messed bad. He sounded like a mummy. Or what she thought a mummy would sound like if a mummy could talk. It wasn't like she conversed with mummies on a daily basis or anything like that.

She was digressing.

She reached out for the bag slowly. "You know, maybe you should go to the doctor and get that voice thing checked out. It seems kind of croaky." She was about to close her hands around the lunch bag when she remembered something.

Her mother had already placed her lunch in her backpack.

She yanked her hand back before she could touch the brown paper. Grandpa, who had not been expecting this, let go of the bag. It fell to the floor and immediately became soaked. She blinked.

The bag oozed red liquid. And then it started to squirm. Kagome's heart caught in her throat. Were those _worms_ coming out of that bag? She stared up with big eyes to ask Grandpa what on earth was going on. Instead of asking though, she began to scream, her hands coming up to her mouth.

Grandpa was decomposing before her eyes. His skin withered away and became cracked and brown. He smiled at her, and his skin ripped across his face, baring decaying flesh. Her mind shrieked at her to run, run away and never look back. But she couldn't, she was rooted to the spot. She stared deep into his empty sockets: his eyes had just disintegrated. His flesh dried up and soon all that was left were his bones; his straight, grey-white bones.

That was not her grandfather. Her grandfather had a bad stoop. His back would never be able to go upright like that. She stared at him in horror.

Who was that?

His hand reached out for her and she took a step back. Her breath was coming in short gasps.

This was not happening. Oh no. This was totally not happening. This was so not happening, that it was kind of funny. In a sick and totally twisted way of course. A sick and totally twisted way that wasn't happening, at all.

The old man's bones nodded to the wind.

Suddenly, she realized how very black and dark it was. The sun was no more; there were dark, billowing clouds in its place. Thunder sounded behind her. She turned her head around and saw the skeleton behind her. She turned her entire body to face him, her eyes widening.

"How did you get there?" She didn't understand what was happening. She took a step backwards, trying to get as far away from the skeleton thing as she could. She flinched as she stepped into something squishy.

Did she just step in dog crap? Great, first her grandfather morphs into a skeleton, and then she steps in dog doo-doo.

She looked down to see if the damage to her new, white sneakers was bad and then fell over backwards, trying to desperately get herself away from the blob of bloody worms she had just stepped in. She landed on her ass in the grass. She scuttled away from it, using her hands to propel herself backwards until one of her hands hit a pipe and she flipped over due to lack of balance.

As she lay sprawled in the grassy strip between the sidewalk and the street, Kagome realized that she had forgotten about the skeleton. She screeched as it suddenly appeared right in front of her.

"Come with me Kagome," it crooned, its voice old and dusty with age. "It's just me, Grandpa. Come with me." It reached out with its skeletal hand and bent closer to her, trying to ensnare her wrist.

She screamed and tried to press herself into the ground, as far away from the skeleton as possible. This was sad. She wasn't even a block away from her own home and she was going to die. Tears sprung in her eyes.

She didn't want to die.

"You're NOT my grandfather!" she yelled.

Suddenly, an odd thought hit her. Why wasn't anyone helping her? She screamed incoherently at the top of her lungs and rolled around the skeleton man on her knees. She swiftly got to her feet and ran to her house.

"Mom!" she bawled. "Mom! Help me!" She pounded on the thick wooden door. "Mom?"

The skeleton man slowly walked to her. Her eyes widened. "Mommy! Open the door!" She struggled with the doorknob and battled against it, vainly twisting and turning it. It was locked.

"Souta? Souta! Open the door!" She tried to jiggle the knob again and listened for the sounds of footsteps coming to her aid.

There were none.

The skeleton man was coming closer. She was pretty sure he was a man. Unless if the skeleton was a girl with a really manly voice. And that would be odd. Almost as odd as her grandfather morphing into a skeleton bent on having her eat worms for lunch.

Focus! She had to focus on what was at hand!

Slowly and steadily the skeleton was approaching. He knew that the door wouldn't open. That was why he was taking his time.

She was his.

She screamed at this revelation and ran across the porch to the living room window. She banged on the glass with her fists. "SOUTA! MOMMY! SOUTA!" She was hysterical now, tears coursing down her cheeks. Her mind was blank, focusing on the thought of the incoming skeleton.

"SOUTA!" she wailed. She banged on the glass one last time before looking around, helplessly, for something that'd help her break the window.

As she looked around, she realized that there were no potted plants or chairs or stools or even a rock around to smash the window. Great. She was going to die because her mother didn't put any potted plants on the porch. She screamed in frustration and banged her small fists against the windowpane one last time.

"No! I don't want this to happen!" She swore at the window and cursed the doors and the unhearing neighbours who seemed to have vanished. Could no one hear her screaming?

"Kagome."

He was smiling when he said that. She could tell. A shudder ran down her spine. She was going to die. More tears spilled down her cheeks. She turned around to face him. She would not die a coward.

She wished she hadn't turned around. The skeleton man was there, yes, but he was different. He had… she wasn't going to call them eyes. They were more like glowing orbs of light that changed from a wicked green to a powerful, bright, pulsing red. They rolled about in his sockets. His finger bones were covered in the red liquid, which she now believed to be blood. It stank.

He opened his skull or mouth or jaw, or whatever a skeleton's mouth was to be called. There was a mass of slimy worms writhing about. She supposed that was his tongue. She wondered how he had talked without one before; a stupid thought to think before dying.

"Kagome… come with me." He started to reach a bloodied finger to her again.

She backed up awkwardly to the exterior of the house. The edge of the windowsill cut into her back. She didn't care. She wanted to be as for away from this as possible. "Come where?"

"Come with me." He reached out more, his bones clicking as they stretched for her.

"Come where? I don't want to go with you! Leave me alone!"

"But I love you! And you love me… we belong together for eternity. For ever and ever!"

Wow. He really sounded like a deranged stalker. It was just like in the movies.

"No! I won't go with you! Leave me alone!" She tried to move around the edge of the house, away from the skeleton.

He looked at her hard, his eyes pulsing with colour every other second. "You will come with me…. even if I must drag you by your hair." He reached out for her yet again.

Kagome screeched and tried to move sideways but his hand caught her wrist before she could move. Her skin began to wither away. She screamed again and again as the manic skeleton pulled her into his arms.

"For ever and ever," he crooned into her ear.

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A girl squirmed in her bed. Her jet-black hair was going to be very hard to straighten out when she awoke. It was all tangled, mostly because she was dancing around as if her body was on fire. But who could blame her? That was one nasty nightmare she was having.

There was a small nightlight next to the bed. It flickered a bit while casting an eerie glow over her possessions. She was going to have to change the light bulb.

The black walls of the room were covered with large posters of bands. Presumably, these were posters of bands that she liked. They festooned the walls at odd angles (the posters of the bands, not the bands themselves), somehow giving visitors the conception of a larger room.

Her floor was covered with a thick deep red shag carpet… if you could see it. At the moment, it was covered with a vast assortment of useless miscellaneous items including but not exclusive to books, DVDs, and clothing.

A computer desk, complete with a mind-blowing amount of stuff cluttering the surface, could be found in the corner next to her bed. The only way one could have known it was a computer was the odd beeping lights that showed up all over the place from beneath the fabric of the clothes thrown haphazardly over it, indicating that, somewhere under that mess, there was a machine of some sorts, still on. A black rolling chair was sitting in front of the computers, clothes strewn all over it.

Her chest of drawers was overflowing with things. Articles of clothing, papers, plastic pens, markers, and (strangely enough) plastic spoons hung out of the drawers, making a few of the drawers impossible to close, meaning that they were open and showing their goods to every human that walked into that room. Not that many people did walk in the room.

Her closet was stuffed with an astonishing amount of burnt CDs, burnt DVDs, books, clothes and scraps of paper. It almost seemed like someone had had a confetti party. Or not. This girl was not a confetti-loving kind of chick.

In her bed, she continued to thrash about. She was getting her blanket all twisted up. She was going to need some help getting out of it in the morning. Her writhing stopped for a second… then she let out a blood-curdling scream.

She sat up straight in bed, her chest heaving, breathing out of control. Her azure eyes were wide, but glazed; looking desperately from side to side. She was still in her dreamland. Slowly… her eyes cleared and she regained control of her breathing; it was still heavy, but not as rapid as before. Her heartbeat, on the other hand, was still going incredibly fast.

She felt like a hamster.

She put her face in her hands and breathed deep into her palms, leaning forward. She hoped the other or others in the house hadn't heard her. She hated it when they….

She took a deep breath and got up, wading through the jumble of things on her floor to her computer. She shoved some of her junk off of her chair and the computer desk onto the floor. Still breathing heavily, she logged onto LiveJournal and wrote about her weird dream.

After typing out a long blog, she saved it and pressed the submit button. She needed to see a psychiatrist. She laughed to herself. She yawned and waded back to her bed. She needed more sleep. She hoped she hadn't woken anyone up with her weird dream scream. She sighed and dug herself deep into the blanket, making a cocoon around herself. No more thinking about dreams. She fell asleep several minutes later.

Others in the house weren't so lucky.


	2. Two: Rude Awakening

Hmm… it is update time… =) Do I need to say anything else? I don't think so. So go read the reviews and then read the chapter. Btw… I haven't beta-ed… XX gah, it's not my fault… =P

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[Reviews]

**Strawberrylover**: Ahahah… kool it was… =] Thanks. I really liked the start for this too. I was like… how can I make this different from all the rest? LoL, I bet twenty other people just wrote fics like it too. How do I let you know? Umm… add me to author alerts =) Then you'll know every time! [Oh ho, ho… they will never know that all I want is more people to have me on their author alert list… MWAHAHHAHAHA… Not…] Thanks for the review =] 

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**Bloodbunny**: I am updating! Um… not quite so soon… but updating nonetheless! Thanks for thinking my story's good. =] Thanks for taking the time to make a review too. 

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**Lady Icykimi**: Thanks for thinking it was good and scary. That was the angle I was looking for. LoL. I know, her grandpa thing made me freak out too. I was like… ahahah… did I write that? X.X I will continue on with my story… in fact… if you scroll down… you will see that I already did. Thanks so much for the review. =] 

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**Kiamiawia**: That's right, I got a snazzy new retainer. What are you going to do about is? HMMMMM? LoL. Thanks for saying my story's great. I appreciate it. =] Merci for the review too. 

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**Kim-Kagome**: I'm glad you believed this was good. I liked the dream too. I was like… how do I make this as perfect as possible? And voila! Out popped the scenes for Kag's dream world. I shall continue… now… LoL. Thanks for the review. 

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**RoguesHeart**: I know! I love Linkin Park and Evanescence! Have you seen Linkin Park's new video; Breaking the Habit? I'm madly in love with that song; when that video came out, I almost passed out in happiness. =] And Evanescence's new video came out too, for Everybody's fool. I loved that video too. I love Amy Lee's collaboration with Seether too! ; It's like awesome. Tehehe… Yah, Dream [or rather Nightmare] Grandpa was freaky. Ahaha… When does Sesshomaru enter the story? Uh… I'll get back to you for that. Um… I haven't exactly written the next chapter yet. I find it nice to start off with the reviews. =]Thanks for the creative review. Wonderful fight. LoL. 

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**Shadow creature of the night**: Updating now… =] I thank the "heathen" gods of writing that this story appeals to so many people. Many of them think it's awesome too. Thanks for reviewing. =] 

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**Delirium**: Tehe… I'm being begged… I feel loved. LoL. ; I'm glad you added it to your favourites. Aw, I feel special now… gets teary-eyed I think I have something in my eye. rubs eyes and takes out a fork Uh… how'd that get in there? [Gah, I just watched Pirates of the Caribbean for like, the second time… and it was at 6:30 am… ; It's still stuck in my BRAIN! drool Johnny Depp was SO HOT…] Tehe, I like the imagery too. [What's really going on in her head: O.o I had imagery? COOL! ;] Hmm… I wonder if you're right at the end part. HMMM… Let me think it over. I haven't really… thought of what's going to happen in this story. X.x I'm going to have to read my summary over again. =P Thanks for the review. 

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**Kikakai**: Thanks. DO YOU THINK I DON'T WANT GUM? I want gum. I want lots of gum. I'm a gumaholic. [GUM, not guN, GUM!] Pretty soon, my friends are going to send me into rehab. I'm not kidding when I say that I eat whole packages of gum within half an hour. If it's gum… and it's in my hands… INTO MY MOUTH IT GOES! 'cause it's so good! ; Thanks for reviewing X.x 

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**HaPPyBuNNy**: Aha… creepy it was. ; It was meant to be that way. LoL. I think… Yah, yah it was. I like it too! And I am going to update it! Look, I'm updating! Look! Updates See! =] I won't give up on it! is horror-struck Who dares imply that I would give up on it? I lurve this story. =] [Even though I have no idea what's going on next. =)] Thanks super much for your review. 

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**Saria4**: Sad for Kagome it was. Uh… wait, what was sad for Kagome? Waking up and realizing it wasn't true? O.o But wasn't that a good thing? I mean… having a skeleton try to attack you and make you eat worms for lunch isn't that bad a thing to wake up from. 'cause then you know it wasn't real. I don't know what I'm talking about. =P Review me again and tell me. I am INTRIGUED. =] Thanks for the review. 

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**Pixy-Misa-Misao-Amano**: Thanks for thinking so. But really… good is such a boring word. I mean… fruitcake is good… a B plus in math is good… an aardvark running amok in your enemy's backyard is good… how's about next time, you use another word to describe my job? LoL, I sound like a teacher. X.X Sorry if I've offended you. I just don't like the words good or nice. I'm a hypocrite though, I use them all the time. X.x ; Thanks for the review. 

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[Initial Beginning]

"…" Speech

'…' Thoughts

[Has anyone heard that song… Akinyele; Put It In My Mouth? If you have… tehe, isn't it gross? If not… don't listen to it with your parents there if you decide to d/l it. Just don't. It's not a good idea… at all… I warned you =) ] A/N's

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my ice cream… and even that was bought by my sister

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Wicked Heart

Chapter Two

Rude Awakening…

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Kagome's eyes fluttered open. Her mouth tasted and felt like cotton balls. She moved her tongue around in her dry mouth, trying to get some kind of spit action going on. She sighed; it didn't work.

Yawning, she lay back, and thwacked the deep red radio that sat on her bedside table. A boring voice whispered throughout the room, "Yeah, so right now, it's almost seven am." Kagome yawned. This guy was so boring, he sounded like a bloody robot. And not even one of those really cool fighting robots; this one definitely didn't have lasers. If this guy was a robot, which would explain the lack of life in his voice, he'd be an automatic garage door opener; one that deserved to be run over a few times. She rolled over as he continued to speak.

"Yah, so now, it's 6:59. Would you look at that? It's time for me to leave you all already. As Mozart once put it so wonderfully, 'Parting is such sweet sorrow.' This is Monsieur Radio saying, bye."

Kagome snorted into her pillow. Stupid man. Even she knew that it was Shakespeare who had written that, not Mozart. Mozart was a composer.

She flipped over to her back as she waited for her familiar wake-up call. "WAKE, WAKE, WAKE, WAKE UP PEOPLE!" screamed the radio DJ. She shot of her bed like a bullet, her hair flying over her head. "GET UP AND OUT. Today is a wonderful day, twenty-one degrees Celsius, bright and sunny as always. It's the kind of day where you just want to go out and sunbathe. NOT! Today it's RAINING LIKE HELL. Just like every other day on this godforsaken island we call Japan." [Okay, I know that's not the climate… but still… shut up! This is my story… And in MY Japan, it rains a lot =) Think of it like Vancouver, Canada. =)]

She leaned over, still sitting on the bed, her head between her knees. She felt like she was going to throw up. Stupid hangovers. That's what you get when you have a pity party for yourself. No wonder her mouth tasted so gross. She bet her breath stank too. Gah...

She got up as the DJ announced her name to the world. "This is DJ Beebe Gun and you're listening to UN-RATED WXYZ RADIO! Now, this song is for all of you hopeless cases missing your jackass ex-lovers who were fucked to leave you in the first place. Heck, I'm betting most of you were the fucked ones to let yourselves get so close to people who were fucked enough to leave you! Here it comes!" Her voice trailed off as the blaring vocals of some unknown rock star blasted through the airwaves.

Kagome stood up straight and struggled to keep her balance. She took a couple of deep breaths, grabbed an armful of clothes from the mess on the floor and ran into the adjoining bathroom.

Once she was in there, she dry retched for a minute and then brushed her teeth thoroughly, trying desperately to get rid of the nasty aftertaste of whiskey. She growled into the mirror, practicing her angry faces. She spat out into the sink and put away her toothbrush after rinsing it.

She turned on the water in her small shower and stripped before jumping in. She washed her hair with Head and Shoulders and did quick stretches in the shower. She got out five minutes later, dried off, but left her long, black hair wet, allowing it to trail down her back. Once she was dried off, she went straight to the mirror to see if her eyes were still red. They were. That was the first and the last time she'd experiment with liquor. She had a vague feeling that she'd had a dream, but she wasn't quite sure what about. She shrugged it off.

She decided to put her clothes on at that point. It wasn't fun just standing around naked. She was starting to get cold. She looked down into her pile of clothing that she had randomly picked up. Aha… underwear. That would be a great place to start. She pulled it on and realized that her bra was strapless. 'Cool,' she thought, 'I've been looking for this for ages!' Her figure spun around in the mirror as she watched herself twirl. 'Hmm, looks like a bikini. A dark blue bikini.'

She ran her eyes over the lump of clothes lying at her bare feet. Sockd would be nice… She grabbed a rumpled pair of socks and pulled them on while hopping about. Woot! Maybe this was what they meant by the term "stocking feet." She slid around in the tiny bathroom a few times before remembering that she had school that day.

Her facial expression fell. That wasn't fair. School was evil; evil and a waste of time. She was already way ahead of her class in so many ways. Ms. Kinicho has seen to that. Blah. Here she was in grade ten when she should really be in grade 12. Gross. Oh well, it gave her an excuse not to pay attention; she already knew it all. Except for a few of the advanced grade 12 courses Ms. Kinicho had stuffed her into. Gah, that woman was nice, but so... evil.

She glanced back down to her pile of clothing. Hmm… a shirt would be nice. So would a pair of pants. She dug around for a minute before triumphantly resurfacing with an off the shoulder top that had the word "Fcuklicious" stamped across the chest in glittery red lettering. She pulled it over her head and decided to look for a pair of pants. As she rummaged through her pile of clothes, she soon realized that that she hadn't carry in a pair of pants. Growling, she grabbed a hairbrush from her countertop and got out of the room

She put the handle in her mouth and started to dig around in her awesome pile of clothes and other knickknacks, searching for a decent pair of pants. As she threw plastic spoons and empty CD case covers over her shoulder, she found a pair of old denim short shorts. 'So that's where those went.' She stood up for a bit and held them against her flat waist. Then she realized that the short shorts were not what she wanted and continued to dig through her mass of clothing.

After several minutes of fruitless searching she emerged the fight with her room victorious; in her arms she held a pair of black baggy jeans, mercilessly wrinkled and smothered in odd clinking chains at various strategically placed areas. Giggling like a mad woman, she pulled the pants up and over her legs, buttoned, and then zipped them up.

Smiling, she began to walk off… and realized her pants had just fallen off of her waist and were now dangling about her knees. Shocked, she realized that she had lost a few pounds, enough to make her pants slide off her hips and to her knees. Gah… She looked around for something to tie them up.

She wished she had cleaned her room… 'Damn it, I hate it when other people are right about me…' She searched with her eyes for something to hold up her pants. Perhaps a spare bit of rope, a computer wire, or, if she was desperate, her own hair? As she contemplated that option, she noticed something blinking in the corner of her eye: a metal chain dangling from one of her dresser drawer knobs with a combination lock just hanging onto it.

'Perfect,' she smiled at her own ingenuity, unaware that all around, many other people of whom she had no knowledge of, were doing the exact same thing.

Grasping her pants by the waist, she waded through her sea of clothes towards the shiny chain. Once she got to it, she yanked it off the dresser, almost causing herself to fall over. Catching her balance with the help of the wall, she steadied herself. She pulled her pants all the way up and threaded the chain through the belt loops. She pulled it tight around her waist and cinched the… locked the combination lock around it, securing her pants in place. 'Hey… it doesn't look half bad,' she thought as she swished her hips around, listening to the odd clinking noise. It didn't sound that bad either.

Smiling, she finally took the brush out of her mouth and after rubbing her saliva off on some piece of clothing, she ran it through her hair a couple of times. She stretched as tall as she could, which wasn't very high, while yawning loudly. She rummaged by her computer chair and pulled out a black side bag. Inside it were her daily essentials; spare binder, some paper, a few pencils, a couple of pens, a calculator, her make up, a thick black marker for graffiti purposes, a romance novel, a compact mirror, a lighter, a spare pad, hair ties, an exacto knife, some pepper spray, and her wallet. Oh yeah… Those were all that a girl really needed nowadays.

She went to the bathroom just as Down, by Blink-182 blared on the radio. She yanked out a bottle of dark blue eyeliner and traced a steady line over her lids, smudging it afterwards in place of eye shadow. She pulled out a mascara bottle labelled "Liquid Night" and applied it to her already thick eyelashes. A dab of concealer covered her newly sprouting pimple on her left cheek. She grabbed a tube of lip-gloss from her bag and smeared some clear gloss onto her waiting lips. Lip-gloss had replaced her customary deep red lipstick when she had found that she had grown to loath its taste; it tasted like something dead and rubbery, like plastic almost, but not quite, and almost like leather at the same time. She ran her hand through her wavy black hair in an attempt to smooth it straight, but it continued to sway about like some sort of dancing call girl. She growled at it, but her hair paid her no heed.

Turning around and flouncing out of the bathroom, she caught sight of her alarm clock. Its bright glaring neon numbers flashed 7:55. She yawned and grabbed a jean jacket from the floor and flung it on. She caught sight of an umbrella and shoved it into her bag after tossing her bag onto her shoulder. She froze all of a sudden, for reasons unknown. She looked to the alarm clock again. The flashing neon numbers glared out at her accusingly: 7:55. She stared down at them for a second. They changed to four minutes to eight.

Her eyes widening, she ran out of the room, slamming her door, and in the process, locking it. She ran down a hallway and up a staircase, thundering away, not caring who heard her. She ran past the kitchen and slammed her way past open cabinets and jumped over fallen chairs. Grabbing an apple from the counter, and shoving her feet quickly into a pair of army boots, she ran out into the pouring rain.

She fumbled with her bag for a few seconds, getting properly drenched in the process. She ran down the street with her umbrella half opened and then down another with it flapping behind her. She was going to be late, again. Her bag smacked against her thighs as she continued to pound down the sidewalks. Her hair that was close to her scalp stuck to it like a helmet while her hair that went loose down her back stuck to her jean jacket. Her jean jacket was also drenched; the rain had made it uncomfortably heavy and it clung to her as she ran. The rain beat a rumbling tattoo against her umbrella, drowning out the sound of her footsteps.

Groaning, she thought about what Ms. Kinicho would be thinking… She hated disappointing her. She never did seem disappointed in her… in fact, she was always quite proud of her. Kagome supposed that was why she didn't want to let her down. Ms. Kinicho was one of the only reasons why she didn't skip with her friends. She started to think of them but realized that she was slowing down.

Running even faster than before, she turned a corner and almost collided with Elvis. Elvis looked at her with an odd expression on his face; an expression that seemed to say, 'You almost hit me… I feel unloved.' No, not the dead guy! This Elvis was a homeless, cute, scruffy, black and white terrier that roamed the streets by her house. She jumped over him and ran down the street.

She reached the bus stop panting like a maniac. Her army boots had kept her feet dry but her pants had gotten soaked, so her legs were wet and that was making her shiver. She realized quickly that she was the only one at the bus stop and groaned, leaning against the bus stop pole. Then she realized that it, along with herself was soaking wet and she pulled away.

Gah… Not only had the early bus come and gone… but the regular bus and the late bus had passed by as well. There was no doubt about it. The gods didn't want her to go to school that day. And since she wasn't one to anger the gods, she would just have to go home… Then she remembered that her mom was at home… and thought that maybe the gods wanted her to go to the mall. Oh yeah, what an awesome excuse for skipping… She could see it now…

* * *

Kagome entered her school the day after she had ditched her classes. The sun was shining brightly, causing horizontal rays of light to spread over the desks. Smiling she sat down in her seat seconds before the late bell rang. She was on time.

Ms. Kinicho began to call roll. As she did this, Kagome let her mind wander to what had happened the day before. She had gotten out of that rain and caught a bus downtown. She had spent the day window-shopping. She had even caught the eye of the cute guy who worked down by the deli. They had exchanged phone numbers before she had left. It had been an awesome day.

"Higurashi, Kagome?"

"Here, Ms. Kinicho," called out Kagome sweetly. She could still remember the boy's shining brown eyes. They had been as light as honey. She blinked. Honey? Whoa, he must have had contacts or something. Odd that she was just remembering that now.

"Ms. Higurashi!" Ms. Kinicho's voice rang clear as a bell through her head and broke apart her thoughts.

"Yes, Ms. Kinicho?" she asked. She wondered why she hadn't gone on with the roll call. Or perhaps she had and Kagome had just spaced out for a while there. She blinked a few times and forced herself to focus on the teacher.

"If you could please tell me why you didn't appear in class yesterday, I would be very pleased. Do you have a note?"

"Note?" Oh damn it… a note. Oh, but I don't need a note. I have a perfectly good reason.

"Yes Ms. Higurashi, a note. You know, one of those pieces of paper stating your reason of absence, the date and your parents and/or guardian's signature. Your note Higurashi, where is it?" Ms. Kinicho made an impatient gesture.

"Oh, I don't have one," replied Kagome. "I don't need one."

The class broke into laughter. "And why don't you need one?" questioned Ms. Kinicho.

"I was out of school for religious purposes."

"Religious purposes, eh? And just what religion do you practice, Ms. Higurashi, because the last time I checked, there were no major religious holidays scheduled for yesterday. Please explain your absence to me Ms. Higurashi, or I shall be forced to send you to the Principal's office."

"Of course Ms. Kinicho," replied Kagome. "You see, yesterday, I was walking to school. And I realized that I was late. Not only had I missed the early bus… but the regular bus and even the late bus as well. I realized that I would be late for class indefinitely. But I bravely decided to trek on through the muddy streets of Tokyo. In fact, I went on a crusade through downtown Tokyo. I even met a demi-god. He had eyes like honey… almost like amber…" she trailed off in her speech and in her day dream. The young man's honey eyes; they were so, so warm.

The class erupted into laughter and the teacher fumed. "Ms. Higurashi! To the principal's office with you immediately; before I drag you up there myself! Never before have you been so impertinent!"

Kagome flushed and picked up her books. She had let down dear Ms. Kinicho. As she walked past her, Ms. Kinicho stopped her and whispered into her ear, "I'm so disappointed in you Kagome. I thought you knew better."

Kagome flinched at the words and then walked out the door.

* * *

Oh yeah, that was definitely not a good case scenario. She started on her way to school with the rain still beating incessantly on her umbrella. Grumbling, she finished off the last of her apple and chucked the used core onto the sewer grate.

Sighing about stupid weather, she kept on walking, holding her arms around her to try to get warm. Unfortunately, at that moment, just when she was moving her arms around herself, the wind picked up. And it was harsh. It blew past her with awesome strength, taking her umbrella away from her and throwing it up into a nearby tree.

She stood staring up at that tree for a while, as the rain continued to soak her. For several boring minutes, during which she began to look like a soaked rat, she contemplated what had just happened. She spent a long time staring up at her umbrella, caught in the arms of the ever-powerful tree. She wondered what on earth had just happened.

A splatter of water hit her in the eye, causing her to yelp in surprise; suddenly, she realized what had happened and snapped out of whatever trance she had been in. She growled to the sky and stomped her foot into the ground, hard. Her foot hurt with all the stamping that was going on that day.

Exhaling loudly through her nose, she continued on her way. This was NOT a good day. As she stalked down the many streets she had to walk in order to get to her school, she just couldn't help noticing all the nice houses. Her umbrella had blocked them from her view.

They actually didn't look that bad; they were all pretty new and all very big. She made a game to amuse herself while she got even more thoroughly soaked. At this rate, she'd be swimming to school, not walking. She tried to keep her attention on her game. She would look at a house, take in the size, colour, garden, beauty, and lawn size, and then rate it. The highest had been an 8 out of 10. The only thing that had put her off about that house had been its odd purple and yellow colour scheme.

She was so caught up in her game that she forgot to watch where she was going. She got right in the gateway to a large white house; one that seemed to be a sure winner for number one. She stood sideways trying to think of how high she would rate this particular house. Not only was it beautiful, but it was also huge, white, and it had an enormous lawn, which was full of green grass with not a weed in sight. She contemplated and decided to keep that house as the perfect house. If she ever got anywhere, she was going to live there. No matter who lived there now, it was going to be her house.

Snickering in her head, she stepped forward to leave and realized, that she couldn't. Something was holding onto her leg. Grabbing her exacto knife out of her bag, she leaned over quickly and was about to stab around the area around her foot, when she realized that there was no one there. In fact, the only thing that was holding her down was a mud puddle. She had been so absorbed in her game that she had stepped into a puddle of mud with her right foot.

Sighing, she tried to pull her foot out the mud once more. 'Gah, stupid stick…er, shoe in the mud,' she thought. Tugging at her right foot, she wondered if the gods really didn't want her to go to school. As she tugged away half-heartedly at her shoe, she thought about all the bad things that had happened and rolled up her pant leg. 'Hmm, I woke up late. I have a hangover. I missed all three buses. My umbrella flew into a tree. I'm stuck in a puddle of mud outside my dream house.'

It definitely seemed like a reason to skip school to Kagome. But, she had to think of it the way an adult would. They could twist around situations and make everything your own fault. Now… lets see what the adult in Kagome said to counter what she just thought. 'You woke up late, that's your own fault. Suffering from a hangover, well that's just stupidity; you shouldn't even be drinking, Ms. Underage. Missing all three buses was your own fault because you woke up late and were irresponsible. You weren't holding onto your umbrella tight enough. The only reason you're stuck in a puddle of mud is because you weren't paying attention to where you were going. See, everything is your own fault. Now FIX IT and get a move on! You know what? Even the RAIN is your fault! If you hadn't been polluting…'

Kagome's adult mind is rather harsh, especially when she's getting drenched. But it did make sense, and it did motivate Kagome. Until she started thinking about her boot; her precious army boot. Her boot, which was currently getting soaked, along with the rest of her body. She supposed she looked very… slimy; that was how she felt, slimy.

'Wait a sec. What happens if I lose my boot? What if I kick so hard… that my boot comes off and flies through the air? What if it hits a person on the head and knocks them out? What if it hits a car? What if it causes a car crash? Or what if it hits a person and causes the person to fall into the road and then cause a five-car pile-up? OR WORSE! What if my precious boot got stuck in tree where no one could find it? Oh dear lord!'

With these horrible thoughts rushing through her mind, she failed to realize that someone had left the beautiful white house she had vowed to live in. And guess what! He was headed for the gate.

Kagome's frantic thoughts were poked out of her head by the swinging open of the gate and someone's voice calling out, quite clearly, "Move."

She looked up to the voice and froze, her lips slightly parted. This person, he had… come out of her dream house. And he was not handsome; he was way to pretty to be handsome. The only way she could describe this hunk of a creature was beautiful; and it suited him perfectly. His strong chin, pouting lips, his nose; they were perfect, along with everything else about him. He was wearing a white shirt, black pants, a dark maroon tie… and his hair. Oh god, he had so much of it, and it fell into his face in such a wonderful way. It was out of the rain, of course, and covered by a large black umbrella, along with the rest of his body. His hair blocked his eyes, almost… when she caught sight of them, she gasped. They were the colour of honey; just like the eyes of the guy in her dream.

Sesshomaru stared blankly at the female ahead of him. She looked like she had seen a ghost. Then again, she herself seemed to appear to be a ghost as well. The female was just standing there in the rain, as though she had nothing better to do. She was soaking wet, her hair plastered to her skull. Her clothing was drenched but she made no move to get under any cover.

'Stupid human,' he thought. 'Why does she not move?' He continued to stare down at her. 'Is she a mute? Or is she deaf? She could be both.'

"Girl," he enunciated slowly, allowing her eyes to follow the shape of his lips in case she read lips, "Move."

Kagome blinked. Ah, the tall, hot guy was telling her to move. She looked down to her stuck foot. Damn it. This was so not her day. She looked up to him again, up to his amber eyes and felt like she was going to puke all over again. "Umm," she whispered, "I can't." She looked away embarrassed.

Sesshomaru refrained from rolling his eyes. 'How pathetic.' Being a man of few words, he continued to glare at her. His willing away of people with his mind always worked with everyone else. He stood for a while, staring straight into her eyes, waiting for her to move out of his way. He was already late as it was, thanks to his stupid half-brother.

It was their first day of school, in this stupid city that their stupid father willed them to live in after his death. Ah yes, the death of their father. What a sad event, or so it was said; Sesshomaru had felt nothing at the funeral. Not a bit of regret, not an ounce of remorse. Empty was how he had felt. Only when the lawyer who was executing his father's will had spoken had he felt anything, and even then it was merely anger. He felt that all the time, it was nothing new.

The news that he had to leave his home was. The news that he had to reside in Tokyo, the place where his father had abandoned his mother's memory, had irked him. The news that he had to go to school, even though he was part of his father's business had annoyed him. The news that he would have to endure all these changes while residing in the same house as his annoying half-brother had caused him to become smothered within his anger. Oh how he loathed that creature. And to live with him until he finished his last year of high school? Oh, just the thought of it made him cringe.

But he had to. So he did. There was no use in rebelling. He followed the rules. He was a "good child." He went with the rules. And when he had to start paying his taxes, he would. There was no use rebelling against the system. Once he was old enough, and had acquired enough power, he would be the one running the system. The future was where he had his sights on; a future without his annoying younger _half_-brother.

He had annoyed him this morning, Inuyasha had. Not only had he managed to use up all the hot water, but he had somehow reset all of alarm clocks, setting them not only behind, but placing the alarm clocks in hard to reach places. He had also exchanged the sugar in the sugar canister for salt. He had also sneaked out of the house with Sesshomaru's car. Can everyone feel the love today?

He wished he could begin his assault on him now, but he knew he had to hold back. Causing scenes was not his way. He liked to be think, to be slow and methodical. That way, few errors could be made. The way he was thinking, once he got to school, he could act indifferent as always… and then bombard him with torturous assaults all through the evening at home. But he would never get to his assaults if the _stupid female in front of him didn't move!_

Kagome blinked. Gah… why was he just staring at her? Couldn't he say something to relieve the tension? Perhaps she should say something. She licked her lips nervously, a pattern bother herself and her mother shared, much to her dismay.

"Uh… you see, I have… umm… my boot," she stammered, under her breath, barely enunciating. 'Oh, smart Kagome; you have a boot! No one could have guessed that!' She cringed at her own stupidity. "Um…stuck." She continued to whisper away, too quietly for even Sesshomaru to hear, trying to complete a sentence.

Sesshomaru's thoughts wandered. He wondered why the darn female wouldn't move. All that he could hear from her lips was a faint 'wisp, wisp' noise. He contemplated some plausible reasons as to why the female was there. Perhaps a rival company was using her to block his way to school? But why would they want to delay his arrival to the school? Perhaps they wished to kidnap him. Or perhaps it was his father's men who had sent her to tell him something. Or perhaps this was just another part of Inuyasha's elaborate practical joke. The female was probably to for as long as she could. His brother, _half-_brother had guessed his tastes wrongly. This female was not only dressed inappropriately, but her shirt was imprinted with the "word" "Fcuklicious." She also held no common sense; she was out in the rain without an umbrella. How utterly stupid. She was going to get sick; humans tended to do that. He stared off into the distance. Inuyasha's mother had gotten sick often.

Kagome stared up at the demi-god. Uh… what was his problem? Had he turned into stone or something? He was just staring off into the distance as if nothing was happening. As if she didn't even exist. 'Oh, what the fuck, this guy is screwed. I can't believe I thought he was pretty. When she thought about, she realized that he kind of looked like a girl.' She snorted and crossed her arms. Thank god her bag was waterproof.

"Hey, beautiful! Are you just going to pose or are you going to help me out? You're making me late."

Sesshomaru looked down at the female human. What on earth was she talking about? Well, at least he knew that she could speak. Now, to make her move…

"Female. I am not making you late; you have made me late." There was no need to mention that he was already late as it was. "Move off my property," he stated. "Before I become angered." He stared down into her pixie-like face, waiting for her to move away.

Kagome looked up at Sesshomaru in wonder. "Look, _male_, I don't know what kind of a stick you've got stuck up your ass, but I happen to be stuck here. If you had paid attention while I was talking, maybe you would have known that." She stared right into his eyes, her features caught in an expression of anger. She squelched her feet as she tried to get out of the mud yet again, but only managed to get herself deeper into the mire. 'Why was there such a mud puddle in front of the house anyways?' She thought.

Sesshomaru stared down to her feet. Her right boot was sunk deep into the giant puddle of mud that was situated in front of the gate. 'Hmm… that wasn't there when I got here.' Of course, Inuyasha had planted the puddle there to make him even more late than he already was. Oh, the brotherly love he held.

In a way… he realized that he should have been thanking the girl. She had stepped into the puddle instead of him. She had given up the life of her boot for the well-being of his own shoes. Now, if he could just get her out of the way. He paused for a moment, and thought of something odd. Why was she in front of the house anyway?

Kagome blinked. The guy was just staring into the puddle, a serious expression on his face. The same expression he'd had on for the entire duration of their conversation, if one could call it that. She wondered what the dirtbag was thinking. 'He better be thinking of a way to buy me new shoes.'

She frowned and decided to break the silence. "You know, looking at it won't make the mud go away."

He looked up at her with his honey gold eyes and responded, his tone flat, "I know," before grasping her around the waist and tugging at her gently.

"GAH!" Screamed Kagome. 'AH! What's he _doing????_' her mind screamed. "What are you doing?" she yelled at him. Her back was to his front; she could feel his chest through the thin cloth of his and her own shirt. 'AH! I'm going to be raped!' Her heartbeat accelerated as he started to move up and down with her. Her clothing was soaking his, making the umbrella he still held useless. 'GAH!'

He let go of her waist and set her down gently, while handing her his umbrella. "Helping you," he replied, again in the same boring tone, almost as though he thought she was a child and he was an adult. Which was true. Kagome was only sixteen, while Sesshomaru was a mature seventeen going on eighteen. [Which we all know is not that mature at all =P ]

Kagome leaned over and realized that he had been trying to pull her out of the mud. But what was he doing now? She peered closely and realized that he was attempting to untie her shoelaces, but he seemed to be having difficulties. 'Of course, Kagome. Today is the day that you wear the shoes with the army knots.' She groaned inwardly. How stupid could she get?

She put the umbrella to the side, seeing how it was useless. She watched him as his shirt instantly became soaked and moulded to his body's contours. She bent down next to him, wanting to help; wanting to get away from him. "Umm, they're army knots," she informed him.

He looked to her, his eyes blank.

She shuddered. What was with him? Sure, he was really pretty… but his voice was so… vapid… and monotone. And his eyes, they seemed… empty? Weird. They reminded her of something, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. They seemed to speak for him though. She knew what he wanted her to do. He wanted her to teach him this army knot and untie her boots.

She worked quickly, looping and untangling the shoelaces. How long ago had it been when her mother had taught her this knot? So long ago… and yet she remembered how to do it; how to unravel it as well. She wondered why they weren't called bootlaces when you had them on your boot? Maybe they were called bootlaces. She'd have to look that out.

She sighed as she worked away at it. Then she began to talk, to flush out the awkward silence. "So, you pull this here, and put that there, and then…" Her voice trailed off in Sesshomaru's mind. He was impressed. That knot was quite intricate and complex. How odd that she would know it. She didn't seem to be someone with the mind for such things. He watched as her delicate fingers untied the final loop. 'Interesting.'

She looked at him, waiting, the two strings in her hands. He took the shoelace ends from her and loosened her boot. He stood again, his hair now as wet as Kagome's as was everything else about him. His clothing clung to him favourably; he looked _very_ fine.

As he grasped her about the waist again, he caught her looking at him. Instead of looking away like a normal person, he held her gaze as he pulled her out of her shoe. She wrinkled her brow, there was something definitely off about that guy. She looked away as he set her down on her left foot.

He let her go once he was sure she was steady. The stupid human didn't seem to have equilibrium. He squatted down and pulled up at her boot, which was still stuck in the mud. Something grasped his shoulder. He looked up to see the girl leaning over, holding onto his shoulder, a look of dismay on her face. "Sorry," she said. "My balance seems to be off today." She looked down and then away while standing on one foot, her calf and sock getting even more soaked than they had been before.

"You don't say?"

She frowned at him. This guy was such a jerkass. A nice jerkass… She frowned again. He was also an oxymoron. Someone that was beautiful enough could be a model for Oxy and still be ugly enough on the inside to be a moron. He didn't have to make it sound like she had grabbed onto him on purpose. Oh, forgive her for losing her balance and not wanting to get muddy on top of being soaking wet.

She watched as he tried to pry the boot from the sticky mud. She wondered why it was acting that way. She'd never seen mud like that. What was wrong with this guy's house? She looked to his lawn. It was a perfect rolling green. She thought about how many chemicals he had used to create that effect. She had been stupid to think that it was organic. The same chemicals he used in his yard were now affecting the mud outside his house. She wondered if she really wanted her boot back. If it was smothered in chemical goo…

She watched him as he used a stick to try to pry the boot out of the mud. The stupid thing wouldn't move. The consistency of the mud was unusual. It seemed to be getting harder. Inuyasha had probably added a quick drying adhesive to it or something. That would explain the stickiness and its quick hardening. If he didn't think of something soon, the boot would become stuck in the mud forever. He thanked God that his shoes hadn't fallen victim to that insane prankster. Switching the sugar for salt, that he was able to deal with; take his car without asking, that caused him to become annoyed; but, to damage his wonderful shoes, that was bad enough to make his eyes go red. He really did like his shoes.

She wondered if she should help him. She did have her handy dandy exacto knife in her bag. She stuck her hand deep into the pockets of her black bag and pulled out her deep blue exacto knife. It was her pride and joy. She had bought it herself; with some money she had found lying around in someone's mislaid purse. She smiled at it and then decided to give it up for the greater good: her own fear. That guy was weird. All she knew was that she wanted to get away from him and not see him again; right after she thanked him politely for helping her. Hey, what could she say? 'I've got ethics…. And manners… unlike _some_ people.'

She wondered how she was going to get the guy's attention. He was currently trying to trace around the shape of her boot with another stick. He wasn't getting anywhere. That goo was probably toxic. She was getting tired of balancing on one foot. Sure, it was fun for a while… but then your feet start hurting.

She placed her right hand on his shoulder, her left hand still clutching her precious exacto knife. She watched as the male tensed and stopped moving his stick around the boot. He looked up at her, straight into her eyes. She blinked. 'Gees, does this guy have a staring problem or what?'

Sesshomaru wondered just what the female was up to. She was just standing there, or rather leaning there against his shoulder while he worked. Had she 'lost her balance' again? He wondered if this really wasn't a ploy his brother had created to make him late. He looked up into her eyes. He had patience. He knew that if he waited long enough, she would tell him what she was doing. His golden brown eyes bore into hers.

She looked to her left, 'Ah, yes, the knife.' She brought her left hand closer to Sesshomaru. "I think this'll – " She stopped and nearly toppled over when Sesshomaru jumped up and grabbed both her wrists, causing her knife to clatter to the ground, to join the puddles of water below and effectively making her motionless. "Help?" she whispered out the last word, her eyes wide open in shock. He was standing right in front of her, holding her in place, her arms above her head. Rivulets of water trekked down her face, following her strands of hair, which were plastered to her features. Her eyes wide, she stared into his eyes and realized with a shock that they seemed to glow red? She had to be dreaming.

She blinked. Yes, she had been dreaming, but only about his eyes glowing red; he still held her in that awkward position. He was panting hard and staring at her, confused. He seemed to shake himself and he let her go, his arms going slack at his sides. She rubbed at her wrists, which were turning a light pink. She waited for some sort of explanation.

He looked down towards the ground while he spoke. "I do no care for weapons. Not when they are being drawn on me." His eyes went up to hers, and she realized what he was insinuating. He had been looking not at the ground, but at her exacto. He thought that she was going to attack him!

Her aura burst in anger. Of all the dirty, no-good things to be called… "Hey, I was _not_ trying to kill you, Mr. Big Shot." She looked him straight in the eye. "You better get this straight before you start adding to the lies that are already going around about me! I was trying to help!"

"I do not see how slitting my throat would have helped me remove your boot. Unless of course if my blood had special magical properties that would unglue your boot." He stared right back at her, his eyes still blank.

"I was not trying to slit your throat!" She cried out indignantly.

"Oh, so you were trying to give me a neck piercing?" He snorted. "What else could you have been doing?"

She snorted. "I could have been trying to hand you my knife so you could carve out my boot!" She tried to stomp her foot, but realized that she had no boot, so she kicked her leg behind her and fell forward into Sesshomaru. Gasping, her hands landed on his shoulders, effectively pinning him down to the ground, for the time being. Kagome was a very light female. Sesshomaru's hair flared around his head, thankfully missing the puddle that housed Kagome's right shoe, but it did catch a few leaves. She looked down at him in shock. 'Good god, could this day get any worse?'

"Tell me that you're not trying to harm me now," came his ever-lifeless voice. "If this isn't a threat to kill, maim, or neuter me, then I'm not sure what it is." He stared into her eyes; they seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. "Or perhaps you're trying to rape me?"

Kagome's eyes widened even more than they had been. Her cheeks turned a bright, fire engine red. "You! You, I ought to!" She blushed at her own words. 'Gees, Kagome, could you get any lamer?' "I'm not trying to rape you! You're trying to rape me!"

"Who's on top of who?"

She looked down at him and frowned. "But you're the one that fell over! I bet you had this planned didn't you! I bet you saw the knife and attacked me even though you knew I had it!" She gasped and sat up on top of him, the rain splattering all over them. "I bet you even put that mud puddle out here! Oh my god! A sexual predator caught in the act!" She stared down at him, her lips parted in shock.

Suddenly, she shot up and tried to get away, but Sesshomaru grabbed her and pinned her down, much like she had pinned him down seconds before. She screwed her eyes shut and repeated, at a high pitch, "Please don't rape me, please don't rape me, please don't rape me!"

He rolled his eyes. 'What was with this girl? First she stares at me like I'm a demi-god, then she acts as though I'm the prince of jerks, then she tries to kill me, and now she thinks that I'm going to rape her. Well, I know one thing; she was not purposely trying to kill me. Now… how to make he shut up?' He looked down at her and saw that she was sneaking a peak at him.

"Hey, buddy, aren't you going to rape me now?" She asked, confused.

"Do you want me to?"

"NO!" she screamed. "Are you _insane???_ There is no way in hell I would!" She paused for a moment. "Anyway, if I did want you to, then it wouldn't be rape. It would just be us doing it. Now get off of me!"

He refrained from smirking, allowing one corner of his mouth to rise up slightly. "It?"

She blinked. "Yeah…" Her voice trailed off. What was he getting to? She gave him an odd look.

"You're so childish. Calling sex, it."

"Uh… right…" She gave him a weird look. Where the hell was this guy from. "I can say sex, but more people say it, so I just go with that."

"Right." He got off of her and picked up her exacto. "Where'd you get this?" he asked her, his back to her. "Did your boyfriend get it for you from the dollar store?"

She growled and hopped over next to him, grabbing the knife from his hands, stray leaves falling from her hair from her lie on the ground. "No, I got this from a hardware store." She got up and tried to carve out her boot while hovering above it.

Sesshomaru laughed inwardly at her childish attempts. She amused him. How… odd. He was feeling something other than annoyance. He wondered why.

He crawled next to her, pushing his thoughts aside. If he was to feel amused, then he was going to take advantage of it. He took the exacto from her and started to carve out the boot himself. The mud had hardened even more. Her hand found its way to his shoulder and he was amazed at how light she was. 'She must not eat enough,' he thought as he carved her boot out of the mud.

Soon, he had the shoe out of the mud… but a large lump of mud still surrounded the boot at all sides. It would take him a few minutes to scrape it all off. The girl was getting tired of standing on her left foot, he could tell. He sat down on his behind and pulled her down into his lap and continued working. To his surprise, she didn't complain, she merely leaned back into his chest, removing her face from his view.

When he finally got the muddy glue off of her boot, the rain had lessened. It was now a light drizzle. He handed her knife back to her. Then he passed her the boot and she put it on. When she stood and stooped to tie it, he did it for her, recreating her original army knot. As he did this, she placed both her wet palms on his soaking head of hair, trying to keep her balance.

Once he was done, he stood up, feeling awkward. Once again, this female was causing him to feel things he had not felt in years. He wondered why. He was fascinated, and rather afraid. What other emotions could she pull from his body?

His thoughts were interrupted by an outraged gasp coming from behind them. Two little old ladies, dressed perfectly in suits, covered by a large dark green umbrella, were standing right behind them. Trying to be courteous, he took Kagome by the waist and pulled her over into the grass edging the sides of the sidewalk.

"Why I never!" exclaimed little old lady number one.

"Oh, Beatrice, don't you fret, I hear it's all the rage with young people," replied little old lady number two.

Kagome and Sesshomaru glanced at each other, wanting information that neither had. What on earth were those little old ladies talking about?

Beatrice looked at the two of them, angry. "You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!"

"Oh, Beatrice, I'm sure they meant no harm," consoled the other lady. "Come now, or we'll be late for tea!"

"Lillian!" croaked Beatrice, her attention to her friend. "Have you ever seen anything like this? Ever?"

"Well, there was this one time, back in Chicago," Lillian began.

"Lillian! Oh for heavens sake," she turned her attention to the two teenagers. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves! Why I have half the mind to call the police and tell them just what you two were doing!"

Sesshomaru looked at Beatrice. He wondered if she had taken her pills. Perhaps she had taken one too many. "And just what were we doing?"

"You two," she croaked, pointing a gnarled finger at the two of them, "were making love in the rain! Outside! In broad daylight! In the middle of a sidewalk!"

Kagome and Sesshomaru stared at Beatrice, dumbstruck. "Wh… what?" stammered out Kagome.

"You heard me! I know exactly what you were doing there! The evidence is in your eyes! Your dirty lustful eyes!"

Sesshomaru gave Kagome his signature blank look and was given in return a blank look that could rival his. She was stupefied.

"Beatrice. Come now, calm down. Let's get on to our tea," said Lillian as she patted Beatrice's hand. She whispered conspiratorially to Sesshomaru and Kagome, "Don't worry. I'll make sure she forgets all about this. She's always imagining things. Now get along you two, quick, be gone with your sinning eyes." She turned to Beatrice.

"Look! The evidence in their hair!" She shuffled over to Kagome and plucked a leaf from her hair and then another from Sesshomaru's. "Oh… my…" breathed Kagome. "How did that get there… man?" She directed her question to Sesshomaru.

"Well, _woman_…" he began, "When you were on the ground..."

"AH HA!" yelped the Beatrice. "I told you! I told you Lillian. Young hooligans in love; being reckless; making love at breakfast! Shouldn't you two be in school?" She glared at Kagome, her eyes narrowing greatly.

"Uh…" Kagome stared at her blankly. Ah yes, school. She had a vague recollection that somehow, before all this had happened, she had been on her way to school. 'OH DEAR LORD! Ms. Kinicho's going to KILL ME!'

Sesshomaru watched Kagome, wondering what the answer to the question was. He noticed her look from Beatrice to Lillian, from Lillian to himself, from himself to Beatrice and then back again to himself. Her eyes went wide and she stared at him for a moment.

"Oh my god! I have to get to school! My teacher's going to kill me!" She ran off in the other direction. "Bye Beatrice, Lillian! Have fun at tea! Thanks for helping me with my boot!" she called out over her shoulder. "See ya later, stranger!"

Beatrice, Lillian, and Sesshomaru stared after Kagome's retreating figure. Completely drenched, Sesshomaru stood, wondering why he hadn't asked her for her name. Someone who could stir things in him was now gone for good. He frowned in his mind. That was not good.

Well, he would just have to live life as it came. If he ever saw that girl again, he was going to chain himself to her or something like that. He decided he would change his clothes and eat a decent breakfast before running off to school.

Before he could return inside, Beatrice's voice rang out from behind him, "Oh my god!" He gave her an odd look as she started to fan herself. The rain drizzled lazily down his face. "She's gone to get a pregnancy test! Hasn't she? HASN'T SHE?" She started attacking him with her purse, her friend Lillian following with the umbrella to keep her dry, while trying to calm her down.

"You dirty, dirty, little man!" She called out, accenting every word with a hit.

He wondered who she was calling a little man. At a little over six feet he dwarfed her.

"Not even going with her to get the test! She went to get a test for pregnancy right? OH MY GOD!" She gasped. "YOU HAVE STDS! DON'T YOU??? DON'T YOU?"

"Beatrice..."

THWAP!

Sesshomaru ground his teeth together. His urge to kill was rising... He wanted to maim this silly senior citzen.

THWAP! "DON'T YOU?"

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Hmmm… well… that's it… =D What do ya think? Tell me about it. I like Beatrice… she's so funny. =D AHAHHAHAHAHAHHA… Beatrice is a funny name. I wonder if I should have her in again? Oh well, I'll think about that later. How about you guys start typing me out some reviews? That would sure make me happy. =) And a happy Nishasha is a Nishasha that will right more chapters, faster. Plus… it's SUMMER! =) I can write a bunch now. MWAHHHAHAHA… But I don't think I will… not unless if I get some reviewing action! =) Ew… was it just me… or did that sound… WRONG?


	3. Three: More Rudeness

Hmm… good turnout… I feel special. I hope my Find Hope fans will forgive me while I update this. I'm just not in the mood for Find Hope right now, that's all. I will be sooner or later. Probably later than sooner, but still, later…

La de la… la…. Oh yeah, I'm bored. And so, my story continues on. All of you animal lovers may feel kind of ticked off… but I assure you, I love all tiny, fuzzy creatures and try my best to keep them out of harms way. It is my dream to own a hamster or a cat.

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**[Reviews]**

[Oh, btw… I only got 1KB reviews this time…. I get them sent to my email, and sometimes there's a few two kilobytes, but this time… all ones… it was weird. Ack, digressing…]

**I thank you ALL in advance for reviewing me. It makes me feel so good and happy on the inside. I get waffy and pleased… it's like a natural high. So… thanks to my many reviewers!**

**Trina3**: I'm so glad to hear that you like my story. I'm also super glad that you can't wait to read more. AHAHHA… I love the old ladies. I owe my life to Lillian and Beatrice; they're so cute! Ha ha, Beatrice is so stupid. Here I am, updating…NOW… 

**Strawberrylover**: Thanks for thinking this chapter was funny. I liked it a lot. It made me crack up so much when I wrote it. =P I love the ending part… tehe! 

**Ennovymoon**: Lol, I know! Sesshou-sama was so unlucky there, now wasn't he? Tehe, I love Beatrice! And Lillian! … Remember the line where she says something along the lines of… Well, there was this one time, back in Chicago… so cute! sigh I love them all… =] 

**jerry**: I'm so glad that you love my story. I love Beatrice! She's SOOOO funny! She makes everything into such a big deal. Nah, I don't think Sesshomaru will have STDs… though that would be interesting… And I'm not sure if I should make him a demon or not. Right now, I'm just toying with the idea, and kind of adding hints… so I'm not sure… but… yah ; In other words, I have no clue whatsoever… 

**ash211**: I'm super duper glad that you love this story. And I am going to continue it. I wouldn't think about leaving it alone and letting it die off 

**Sesshys Chix**: Lol, yeah, that's the reaction most people give off in their reviews. I love how this chapter… er the chapter that you reviewed on came out. And, ta da! I'm updating! 

**shadows-insanity:** Am doing so, right now, in fact. 

**S****oudesuka-Shurikens**: Tehe, I love how it's so funny. I didn't even have to try! =] I was so happy about that! I just wrote it all out… and then posted… MWAHAHAHHA… no beta for me. I love how Sesshy and Kagome get along too. =] makes me happy… to see the ice man melting near the wicked flame of righteousness… O.o I have no fricken clue where that came from… 

**Lol**: Lol, I'm glad you felt that way. I loved the "it" thing too. I loved Beatrice… and Lillian. 

**SilverFox**: My little old ladies seem to be a hit! I wonder if they should come back… oh well, it's all up to my muse =] 

**DemonWicca**: Thanks for thinking this is a great story. I'm getting so proud… lol. Watch my head explode soon. This much flattery is a bad thing. 

**Nagumi Strife**: Thanks for saying so! 

**BlueHarlequin**: Lol, I love that line too! . Makes me laugh. I wonder if I should make it happen… hmm… that would be very interesting, now wouldn't it? =] Oh, the ideas… 

**Sherece**: Glad you think so, and I do intend to keep on writing. And I'll try to keep up the good work. 

**Nuria**: Meh, not much is up. Hey, you're the first person to say that to me! Hmm… I'll add you to my story somewhere… =] Oh, Kagome's family? Well… her brother has run away, grandfather… let's pretend he doesn't exist… and as for her mommy… well… she's sleeping =] 

**rougewriter**: Lol, thanks for thinking so. I like to think that kag is realistic, she acts how I would love to act, if I were allowed. But, alas, I live in a house where my creativity is stifled and novels are frowned upon. And so, my style, my clothes, my words are censored. I look… like a prep stereotype. X.X Anyways… yeah, her parent, mother, is evil. =] 

**sweetflame**: Ah, that I did. And yes, she is. You just haven't seen her yet. She was asleep… I think she has a hangover. =] Her brother has run away… And you just haven't seen her life yet… just wait a while… you will see just how messed up her life is… 

**silentbrat**: Yeah, I think so too…. I'm wondering if I should change the genres thing… oh well, I'll just keep going with this… if need comes to be… I shall change my ways … er.. genre. =)

**yukari youkai**: yeah, Beatrice seems to be a favourite in the last chapter. 

**miyazawa kano**: Thanks Mao, I feel lurved. Beatrice is a proper name. =) Meh, I thin I'd doing this un-tastefully, but BLEH! Who cares? 

**S****ilverWolfBaby**: tehe, I found this chapter funny too. I'm so glad that you loved it. Beatrice ROCKS MY SOCKS! 

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[Initial Beginning]

"…" Speech

'…' Thoughts

**[I love ice cream… and I'm hungry… =) ] A/N's**

_Disclaimer: I own nothing but… TONY! And YUKIO! And… other characters I have made…. =)_

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**Wicked Heart**

**Chapter Three**

**More Rudeness…**

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_Ms. Kinicho is going to kick my ass…_

As Kagome ran to the front doors of her school, Wellington High, her mind raced with the many things that could happen when she entered her classroom. Oh, the possibilities were endless…. 

* * *

First, she could enter the room and have no one notice her. The class would be chattering quietly and Ms. Kinicho would have her back to them all. Then… Kagome would sneak into her seat and take out her work and things and act like nothing had happened. 

* * *

Or… she could enter the room and have no one notice her. The class would be chattering quietly and Ms. Kinicho would have her back to them all. Then… Kagome would sneak into her seat and take out her work and things and act like nothing had happened. 

But then, right before the bell rang, Ms. Kinicho would call out, "Kagome, stay behind after class, I need to talk to you." 

And then, after the bell rang, Kagome would shuffle up to Ms. Kinicho's desk, her head bowed, and say, "Yes, Ms. Kinicho?" 

"Kagome," she would begin, and then break off. "You have disappointed me today. Not only do I make exceptions for you, but I try to help you so much more." She would turn around and start drawing lines on the board. "I gave you extra work to do when you told me this work was too easy, I let you sleep in class, I tried to nurture your love for books, I do so much… and this is how you repay me? You come in late, sopping wet, without a reason, without a word, without even a hello, or a sorry. How do you think this makes me feel?" 

"I don't know Ms. Kinicho." 

"No, I didn't think you would." Then she would turn around, her features turned downwards, obviously sad and disappointed. "I think you should go now, it's break now." 

"Ms Kinicho, I," 

"Please leave now, Kagome."' And then Kagome would leave Ms. Kinicho's room. 

* * *

Or… she could enter the room and have no one notice her. The class would be chattering quietly and Ms. Kinicho would have her back to them all. Then… Kagome would sneak into her seat and take out her work and suddenly, Ms. Kinicho would turn, chalk in hand, her eyes narrowed and whisper, in a deadly serious voice, "Who dripped water all over the floor and thought they could get away with it?"

Silently, all eyes would point to Kagome. And she'd answer, "It was me, Ms. Kinicho." 

"Ah," Ms. Kinicho would answer back, "So you thought you would disrupt my lesson and drip water all over the floor without me noticing?" 

That would be the cue for Kagome to lower her head and reply, "I was going to clean it up after class.""And that you will, Kagome." Then Ms. Kinicho's eyes would un-narrow, and she would say, "Now, class, open up your textbooks to page seventeen-Q." 

* * *

Or… she could enter the room and have no one notice her. The class would be chattering quietly and Ms. Kinicho would have her back to them all. Then… Kagome would sneak into her seat and take out her work and suddenly, Ms. Kinicho would turn, chalk in hand, her eyes narrowed and whisper, in a deadly serious voice, "Who dripped water all over the floor and thought they could get away with it?" 

Silently, all eyes would point to Kagome. And she'd answer, "It was I, Ms. Kinicho." She would stand up heroically and take all the blame, even though several other students had already dripped water all over the floor before her. "Don't blame the others. I soaked the floor with the dirty rain water." 

"Ah HA!" Ms. Kinicho would answer back, "So you thought you could disrupt my lesson, come in soaking wet with God knows what in your hair, drip water all over the floor, coat the seat of one of my desks with rain water, and come in late without me noticing?" 

That would be the cue for Kagome to lower her head and reply, "I tried not to make a big mess. You see, before class—" 

"You shall clean it up," Ms. Kinicho would say. And then her eyes would narrow even more, if that were possible, and she would utter the words: "And you will have Double Duty Detention as well." 

Kagome would wince; Double Duty Detention was the harshest kind a teacher could bestow upon her student. But she would just bow her head in compliance and say, "Yes, Ms. Kinicho." It was best not to argue. 

* * *

Oh, and the many kinds of Double Duty Detentions she could get… She could have just Double Duty Detention, the regular kind. Regular Double Duty Detention wasn't that bad, you just had to sit in a really small classroom with a bunch of other rule-breakers. Except, there were no desks, and the only things to sit on were stools. You had to sit ram-rod straight for a whole hour, while a teacher in front of you droned on and on about thinking about what you had done wrong. It wasn't like you ever got to actually think about it; the stupid teacher took up all of your time just talking. Kagome had had Double Duty Detention only once before, when she was a young child; uneducated of the rules of the school she had been a mere eighth grader. Now that she was in tenth grade, she knew that there were worse things that she could have to do. 

First, she might have to clean out the lockers in Hall One Hundred Forty-Six. In this hallway, this notorious hallway, students were _encouraged_ to place their garbage in the lockers found there; all one hundred and forty-six, hence its name: Hall One Hundred Forty-Six. And why were they encouraged to do this? Because students who had to serve Double Duty Detention may just get the honoured privilege of cleaning out the entire hall of lockers, if they had behaved extremely appallingly, before they went home. She shuddered at the thought of cleaning out even one of those dreadful lockers. She might die from the fumes if she opened one. She would most certainly die if she touched one of the moldy concoctions that could always be found inside the foul depths of those infamous lockers. 

Or, she might have to clean the erasers. Sure, that didn't sound so bad at first, just rubbing chalkboard erasers against a vibrating cleaner thing, right? Wrong. The students weren't allowed to use the giant industrial chalkboard eraser cleaner. They had to do them by hand. But, that still didn't sound that bad. Until you remembered just how many chalkboard erasers there were in the school. Wellington High was huge, and constantly growing; additions had been added on just three years ago and there was talk about maybe adding another wing. Now, think about how many chalkboard erasers there would be to clean… if three of the four walls of every classroom was a chalkboard. That could easily wear a kid out just by clapping them together. 

And what was even worse was the death threat. No, not keeling over because your arm muscles died, but keeling over because you couldn't breathe. Clapping the erasers together caused large clouds of chalk-dust to form. Those tiny particles of chalk always found their way down some unsuspecting youth's trachea, causing them to cough to death. Soon, after hours of clapping, the children might keel over from not being able to breathe. 

Kagome recalled the Ashton kid… There had been a kid who had done something to get a Double Duty Detention (she couldn't remember just what he had done) but had protested loudly to cleaning the chalk erasers, claiming that he had a chalk allergy. The teacher, thinking that Ashton was just being an idiot, yelled himself hoarse and Ashton was sent out, during class, to clean whatever erasers needed to be cleaned outside in the field while the teacher watched him. Ashton had shown up outside, and had begun clapping the erasers together. After a few minutes of watching the kid, the teacher continued to teach, assured that Ashton had just been kidding around. Ten minutes later, a voice had called out, "Why is Ashton lying on the ground with his face all blue?" Needless to say, the ambulance was called, and the proper procedures were done. The teacher retired and became a travelling vacuum cleaner salesman. 

But, what if she wasn't given detention? What if she was sent out into the hall? And… _Aliens abducted her?_ Then, when Ms. Kinicho came out to bring her back in… she wasn't there. And then, no one would know where she was, ever again; because she was abducted.

And then, then she.... And then she realized that she was standing outside the doorway to her classroom. She looked to the wall for a clock and was pleasantly surprised when she realized she was only fifteen minutes late. All of that running mustn't have been in vain. She wondered for a moment about joining the track team before opening the door. Ms. Kinicho gasped. "Kagome, what happened to you? You look…" 

A random voice called out, "Like a drowned rat." 

Another voice called out as well, "Yeah, what happened? Did you fall into a puddle?" 

"Ah ha! She's so poor, she can't afford an umbrella." 

"Or good taste in clothes. She's wearing a chain around her waist!" 

The class tittered at those choice remarks and Kagome remembered just why she hated the people at her school. Then realized that she probably did look like a drowned rat, but she kept her cool and kept her eyes on Ms. Kinicho, who didn't seem very pleased with the remarks that the class had made. She pursed her lips and was about to speak before a few more voices rang out. 

"Yeah, well, even soaked to the bone, she looks way hotter than you ever could, Kikyo," drawled the resident heartthrob, Inuyasha. "Though her taste in clothes does leave something to be desired." 

Miroku, yet another heartthrob of the school, laughed at that remark, "You're only saying that 'cause you can't get her." He smirked at Inuyasha. 

Inuyasha glared at Miroku for a second before throwing a huge, fake grin at Kagome. She rolled her eyes at him and waited for his come on. "So, Kagome, how about you and me get together after school for a fun little romp on the beach?"

Kagome smiled back, "So, Inuyasha, how about after school, you go and throw yourself into a lake?" She lost her grin and gave her gaze back to the teacher who was frowning. 

The class 'ooh'-ed at that remark and waited to see what kind of reaction Ms. Kinicho would take. 

"Really, kids, can't you all just get along?" She sighed. "Kagome, to your seat, I'll speak with you after class; Inuyasha, learn to give up; Miroku, stop fuelling Inuyasha's fights." She smiled serenely as the children quieted down. "Ah, so my little sixteen-year-olds, lets get back to our studies." She frowned for a moment, "Kikyo, get back to your own seat; Inuyasha's lap is not your assigned seat. Now, if everyone could turn to page forty-three?" She turned around and pulled down the projection screen. "As you all can see…" 

Kagome let herself drown out Ms. Kinicho's words. She was already done the entire book; all three hundred seventy two boring pages of it. Math was such a boring class to her. She liked it though. It was only boring because she was working at such a high level. 

She hadn't known before that that was the reason that she was so bored in class. She had understood all the work in her previous classes, just… never done it. It was all so boring and slow, she had always lost marks in in-class participation and in homework assignments. She hadn't ever done her math homework… or much of her other homework. She had just never understood what the point of writing down all that work was when she could do it all a couple of seconds in her head. Not that she ever let on… she always handed her tests and quizzes in before her classmates. They all assumed that it was because she had guessed all the answers. She never did. Except in Social Studies. She hated that class. It never really made any sense to her. Who really cared what life was like for settlers back in the 1800s? She could never remember all those 'important' dates. They never had any logic or anything like that to them. That was why she liked math. It made sense. 

Ms. Kinicho had somehow realized what was going on in her brain, even when she herself had not. She had been in Ms. Kinicho's retarded, oops, 'modified' math class, even though she always aced the exams. The school's thoughts were, if the girl aced all the tests but messed up on all of the easy stuff… there was something wrong with her. But Ms. Kinicho had seen through all of that and had gotten Kagome enrolled in some of the honours courses. Not only was she taking regular Grade 10 Math with these dweebs, but she was also taking Advanced Math 12; a class that she was actually looking forward to. In about an hour, she was going to be learning about the wonderful world of probability. 

She leaned back and drew weird stick men with their heads falling off for the next sixty minutes. Or, at least, she tried to. Every couple of minutes she was bothered by a spit-ball hitting her hair and the annoying chant of, "Loser, Loser, Loser!" and "Goth Freak, Goth Freak!" coming from all around at odd moments. She just ignored them, like always, since it wasn't as if she could do anything about it; at least, not anything that wouldn't cause them horrible pain for a couple of hours. She wondered if she could pepper spray them all with her bottle. Nah, there just wasn't enough to go around. She'd have to buy a bigger bottle. 

A note fell onto her desk. She opened it up and looked down at the hastily scribbled words. 

_"U, me, da back o da skool, 3:15, itz a plan babie doll!_

_ Holla back, _

_ Inu-dawg"_

She snorted, crumpled the piece of paper and shoved it into her desk. That stupid idiot never gave up. She put her head on her desk. _When on earth is he going to realize that I don't like him?_ She wondered if he knew what would happen to her if she did somehow magically start to like him. She'd get beat up by his fan club, that's what would happen. And she couldn't let them go after her. Enough of them were already trying to ambush her; they had all failed, of course. Her fighting skills may suck, but her diversion tactics were insane. Well… they were pretty good. Ever since Inuyasha had gotten a 'thing' for her in grade eight, she'd been dodging girls' attacks. That made this the third year of dodging. She wondered if she should try out for the dodge-ball team. Every so often, he would realize that she was unattainable and back off. But then that _stupid_ Miroku would open his big fat mouth and BOOM! Inu was back to hounding her. 

Anyway, the point was, that in three years, she had never gotten beat up. At least, she thought it was the point. The point could have also been that Miroku had to learn how to keep his mouth shut. Or it could be that she had to face her fears and go kick some bitch butt. She didn't really like the last option that much. Much as she hated to admit it, she didn't like hitting, or hurting anything. It just wasn't her style. And it was probably her style because she knew what happened when you hurt something, someone too many times. They'd run away… and never come back. 

She was startled out of her reverie when another paper ball hit her head. She jumped in surprise but managed to keep herself from shrieking out loud. She opened it but it was just a crank note full of swear words, telling her to stay away from Kikyo's man if she knew what was good for her. She wondered if the people around here would ever realize that she really didn't like Inuyasha, probably not. Oh well.

She yawned quietly and pulled out her romance novel; she might as well get some reading done. It was going to be a long fifty minutes. 

Once the bell had rung, Kagome quickly stuffed her romance novel into her bag and rushed out of the classroom. Just as she was out the door, she remembered that Ms. Kinicho had wanted to talk to her, so she backtracked and made her way to the teacher's desk. Ms. Kinicho was just sitting, marking some papers. 

Kagome cleared her throat. "ERHM." She blushed when Ms. Kinicho raised as eyebrow at her. "In a minute, Kagome," she drawled out. "I'm almost done." 

Kagome waited for a minute until Ms. Kinicho uttered a sigh of relief. "Finally!" She exclaimed. "I hate marking!" She smiled up at Kagome. 

Kagome gave her back a weak smile. "Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho… Yes, as do I. And since we hate it so much, how's about we stop talking about it? Oh, what a wonderful chat we've had! Au revoir!" Kagome headed for the door. 

"Kagome," came Ms. Kinicho's flat voice. "What do you think I want to talk to you about?" 

Kagome sighed and turned around slowly. "The wonderful world of ice chips?" 

It was Ms. Kinicho's time turn to sigh. "No, Kagome. I did not call you here to speak with me to talk about… _ice chips_. I want to talk about your deplorable behaviour today. Not only did you come in late," Kagome's head fell, "but you made rude remarks to your fellow classmates. Now, what have you got to say for yourself? Why on earth were you late today?"

Kagome lifted her head. Then she began to speak very quickly, "Well, you see… My alarm messed up and I couldn't find a belt, and the rain soaked me, and I missed all the busses, and then my boot got stuck in a puddle of mud, and then this hot guy started to insult me, and then he tried to rape me, and then he tried to say that I tried to rape him, and then I tried to cut out my boot from the mud, and then he cut it out of the mud, and then he fell on top of me, and then some old ladies came by, and then one of them thought we were having sex, and then I realized that I had to go to school, and then I ran all the way here and I was only fifteen minutes late." As she neared the end of her extremely long, run-on sentence, her voice got all whiny. _Ew, Kagome, watch the whininess, _she thought to herself. 

Ms. Kinicho gave her a look. You know, that look that old people give you when they want you to think that they believe you, but they really don't. The words that popped from her mouth next, shocked Kagome. They weren't, "I believe you Kagome," or "As if Kagome," or "Kagome, do you really think I'm stupid enough to believe that," but, "Hot guy?" 

Kagome blinked. "What hot guy?" 

Ms. Kinicho smiled, "You ran into a hot guy?" 

Kagome realized that she had referred to the jackass as hot. _Now where did that come from?_ "I didn't mean… _hot_ guy… I meant… he was hot… as in, he was wearing too many clothes." She coughed. 

Ms. Kinicho gave her yet another look. "Uh huh. So, what's his name?" 

"Name?" Kagome gave her a blank look. 

Ms. Kinicho stood and walked behind Kagome, shaking her head. "Kagome, Kagome, Kagome…" She put her hand behind Kagome's back and led her to the door. "The one time you actually have a good excuse and you don't even get to know the hottie's name?" She opened the door. "You need to pay more attention to life. Now go get your stuff. I don't want you to be late again." And with that, Kagome felt herself being pushed out the door. 

Kagome blinked and wondered what had just happened. She realized that she really didn't want to know. She felt hungry, confused, and damp. She decided to head for her locker and then for class. She thought she had left a dollar in her locker the day before, but she wasn't sure. She also had to pick up her Advanced Math 12 textbook before class. 

As she walked briskly down the hallway, she wondered if Tony would come to class. Tony was her only seatmate. The desks were made for three, for some odd reason. Her only seatmate was Tony, who only showed up when he felt like it. He was really smart in math; he just never showed up, or did any work, and he was constantly mouthing off to the teacher. Okay, so he was a jackass. But he was a nice jackass, well, to her at least. He didn't have that great a rep' at school. But he was a nice guy. 

She continued to walk down the hallway until she realized that she had walked past bank of lockers her own locker was situated in. She turned around and walked back to her locker. Swirling the dial around, she breathed upwards, trying to blow her bangs off of her face. She had dried off sufficiently in class; now she seemed like she had been caught in a light drizzle, not a torrential flash flood. 

Her locker clanged open and she pulled her textbook out. She turned slightly and shoved the old thing into her bag. She didn't really like textbooks. They were so old and most of the information was irrelevant; especially in those darned socials textbooks. 

She looked to her locker floor, but there was no shiny dollar there. There wasn't even a dull penny. The bell rang and she caught sight of a shiny thing on the back of the locker floor. Crouching down with bated breath… she realized it was just a stupid metallic sticker. She wondered how on earth it had gotten there. Oh well, it didn't matter. What mattered now was getting to her class. 

* * *

Sesshomaru groaned. Not only did he have no knowledge of the layout of the school, but the school also reeked of well… he didn't know what, but it reeked. Okay, so maybe he was lying to himself, but still. 

He walked around, looking like he belonged. He no long wore an ostentatious suit and tie combination, but relatively normal clothes. His shirt was a simple black button up, with the buttons open. Just his luck that the second that female had left, the sun had come out shining like there was no tomorrow, or ozone layer. He wore a pair of faded jeans one of his old "girlfriends" had sent him. Note that he said "girlfriends" with quotations. These females were women, namely teenagers who attached themselves to him with the insane notion that they held something more than a physical relationship with him. He was always quick to set them right, but those females seemed to have thick heads. Oh well, the gifts were always nice. He had decided to go for hookers/prostitutes lately, and had found them much better in fulfilling his carnal desires. His shiny black shoes clacked against the linoleum for some odd reason, and the noise reminded him of his "girlfriends'" shoes. His hair was pulled back with a simple hair tie and the strap of a large black bag was swung over one of his shoulders while the bag itself thumped against him comfortably on his thigh. 

He paused by a picture and wondered how long it would take for someone to cross his path. He walked by a few open doors and then down another hallway and stopped in front of another picture. Hand-drawn, it looked as if a blind man had been instructed to draw a seventeen story building they knew only by touch. It was beautiful. A few seconds into his gazing, her heard someone saunter up behind him. 

"Hey there, fellow," drawled out a young male as he patted Sesshomaru on his shoulder. Sesshomaru turned to look upon the being that dared to touch his body. The only thing Sesshomaru could see of his face was the male's red curly hair; his head was looking to the clipboard on which he was scribbling. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a pair of scuffed sneakers. His shirt was a boring dull green and had the words, "Stand Back Ladies", scribed across the chest. A bright orange sash was slung over his right shoulder, indicating he was part of some sort of patrol within the school. Sesshomaru looked around, the classrooms in this hallway were empty. 

"You've almost violated Section 2 – 5.6 of the Student Handbook. You're not allowed out of class without a hall pass. You don't have one on you, do you?" He asked, in a deep voice, which was odd for his thin and tiny stature. He surely didn't even go up to Sesshomaru's armpit. 

"No," answered Sesshomaru quietly. "I can't say that I do." 

"Well then buddy, I'm sorry, but I've got to draw you up a ticket." He flipped the page over, but not before Sesshomaru noticed what was written on it. He had been filling out a Section 2 – 5.6 ticket while he had been speaking, assuming that Sesshomaru had violated the rules. Sesshomaru didn't like that. He never broke the rules, and he hadn't now. He wasn't even part of this school yet, so there was no reason for him to have a ticket. He smiled; this would be fun.

"So, what's your last name, buddy?" asked the kid. 

"You," answered Sesshomaru. 

"Yu," repeated the kid, not even asking how to spell it, again assuming that he was in the right. Sesshomaru guessed that the idiot before him wanted to become a police cop. He wondered how close he would come to quashing that dream today. 

"First name?" asked the red-haired male. 

"Fuck," answered Sesshomaru, smiling slightly. 

"Fuck," the kid wrote down an "F" before realizing what Sesshomaru had just said. 

"Hey," he cried, looking up. "This is not," he cut off as his eyes went up from Sesshomaru's chest to his face. Sesshomaru's blank mask looked down at him. "Not, this is not… This is not …" 

Sesshomaru continued to look at him. "Not what?" he asked, quietly. 

The red/orange-haired male frowned. "Funny, this isn't funny," he replied. "Now give me your real name." He looked back down at his pad of paper, mumbling. 

"No." 

"First name?" 

Sesshomaru's lips twitched. "I meant, no." 

The red-haired kid looked up again, clearly exasperated. "Look, fellow, I don't know who you think you are, but around here…" 

He was cut off by Sesshomaru's predator-like grin. He backed away quickly as Sesshomaru advanced upon him, eventually making him back up into the wall. He swallowed nervously as Sesshomaru stared down at him. 

"No, you don't know who I think I am," whispered Sesshomaru. "You don't even know _who_ I am." His voice was extremely quiet, but in the silence of the hallway, his voice amplified magnificently and sent shivers of fear racing down the carrot-topped boy's spine. This was the kind of voice you listened to at the good part of a horror movie, the voice that spoke while it carved chunks of flesh out of his victims and then paused to laugh. 

"What is you name, boy?" he asked. 

"Aaron, sir," murmured the boy. 

"Aaron, what a good name. Not a name one would like to see inscribed on a tombstone, now is it?" 

The boy shuddered. "No, no, it is not." 

"Will you assume things again, Aaron?" 

"Excuse me?" Sesshomaru leaned closer to Aaron's ear. "Will you assume things about people without asking them about it first?" 

"I don't understand…" 

"I am not a student at this school, Aaron," slurred Sesshomaru. Which was not entirely a lie; until he signed in at the office, he was not part of this school. "And yet, you draw me up a ticket. Now why did you do that?" He paused. "Never assume things, never. Idiots assume things. Are you an idiot?" 

Aaron's eyes had widened greatly in the past minute or so. Aaron, due to genetics, had rather small eyes. His father's eyes were small, and his father's eyes were small. His mother's eyes were small, and her mother's eyes were small too. And so, Aaron was doomed (or blessed) to be born with small eyes, which he was. Now, at the moment, Aaron's eyes had grown to be about twice their normal size. Sesshomaru wondered for a moment if his eyes would remain permanently bulging. He could do wonders for people with small eyes if Aaron's eyes did remain the same size. He could be a miracle worker. A painless, no-touch way to get larger eyes was what he would offer. He wondered just how many people would be stupid enough to go for it. 

"Not that I know of," stammered out Aaron. "At least, my mom says I'm good and that I'm not stupid. But my dad says that I'm an idiot sometimes, 'cause I forget to take out the trash. But I only forget about once in a while, so it's not really my fault, and – EEK!" He shrieked as Sesshomaru suddenly straightened. 

"It's good to know that you're not an idiot," said Sesshomaru, brushing off a speck of invisible dust off of his shirt. Aaron brightened a bit until Sesshomaru spoke again, "No, you're not an idiot. You are a blathering buffoon, unfit for a job such as this. I surely hope that you never have a job that has anything to do with policing in the future. Not that you're stupid enough to try out for something that you suck in so much. We both know what a complete failure you are at policing. Surely this is but a punishment for some equally stupid thing you have done. Only a complete imbecile would think that you would be any good at policing." 

Aaron stared up at Sesshomaru, his eyes getting slightly teary. He had in fact, dreamt about being a cop. Ever since he had seen Robocop as a kid, he had wanted desperately to be a cop. His presents for his birthdays were always police badges and toy guns and handcuffs. He realized just how foolish his dreams were in sight of this tall silver-haired male. Of course he wasn't stupid enough to try out for the police corps. All those things in his room, all that police paraphernalia, it meant nothing to him. 

He spoke out quietly, "No, I wasn't." 

"Of course you weren't. Now, lead me to the office; I wish to have a word with your principle." 

Aaron, turned, shoulders hunched, his hands grasping the edges of his clipboard tightly. 

"This way, umm…" 

"Mr. Takashini." 

"This way, Mr. Takashini," repeated the nervous young male, who's dreams had just been crushed. Sesshomaru walked behind the male, as he still thought of him, smiling slightly. This was what he felt most of the time, a dull, some-what joyous feeling when he crushed the spirit of another. It made him smile; it made him feel. That was what was important… it made him feel something. As long as he felt something… then there was a point in living, right? 

All his life, he had felt nothing but pain. All right, that was a lie… all of his life, after his mother's death, he had known no happy human emotions. All the emotions he had known were bland and discoloured. Anger, annoyance… the emotions a person does not regularly rejoice in. 

It wasn't his fault he was that way. Ever since he was a young boy, his father had raised him to be emotionless, the perfect heir for his company. His removal of Sesshomaru's "weak" emotions had become effective after his mother's death when he was eight. His last memory of emotions other than annoyance and anger was about… Kitty. 

Ah, yes… Kitty, that tiny ball of fur, that tiny, little bubble of happiness that happily meowed around his home, or rather, palace. As he walked along the hallway behind poor, heartbroken Aaron, he allowed his thoughts to drift back in time… back to a time when he was but a young seven years of age. A time before he was forced to lose his emotions. 

* * *

He had been wearing a miniature version of his father's clothing the day he first cast his sight upon Kitty. A suit hugged his tiny frame even in the warmth of summer. His tie caused his collar to rub against his neck, torturing his skin and causing it to itch. He kept his hands from his collar even though it itched; he was not supposed to feel physical annoyances. His hair, already cascading down to mid-back had never been cut and was tied back in a low ponytail. To his father's annoyance, he had bangs, which fell onto his face and hid his eyes. Sometimes this was a good thing, at other times, it was a bad thing. 

His father had taken him away from his mother, put him in the safe hands of the maids and waited while they dressed him. He had then stalked out to the car with him and gotten in. Sesshomaru hadn't said a word; he knew what was expected of him. He also knew what to expect of his father, even at he age of seven. He knew that if he sat quietly enough, his father would get tired of waiting for him to get impatient and would tell him all he had to know. 

Sure enough, a few minutes later, his father broke the silence in the back of the car. Gruffly, he said, "We're getting a cat." Sesshomaru allowed that particular bit of knowledge to sink in. He wondered why his father was taking him to get the cat. He wondered if… if the cat was for him. He smiled slightly, wondering if his father was going to stop his campaign to produce the modern, efficient, emotionless, wonder child. He waited in silence, wondering what he would call the cat. He wondered what colour it would be. He hoped he could choose one himself. 

As he sat there quietly contemplating, his father watched his face. And then he decided to quash any hopes that Sesshomaru held about owning the cat. 

"It's for Inuyasha," broke in his father's voice, obliterating any hope that the cat would belong to him. Obliterating any hope that his father would give up his crusade for the perfect child. Obliterating any hope that he would own anything that would give him real joy. But, he was a child and knew nothing of these obliterations. He knew only of the sinking feeling in his heart; the loss of the cat that he had never owned hurt. 

"To keep him out of your hair while we work together. The cat shall keep him busy. You are much too busy to own a cat; a cat under your care would die from lack of love and other vital necessities." His father settled in for the ride again. He had said all the he had wanted to say, quashed all the hopes he had meant to quash. 

The rest of the ride had been uneventful and quiet. When they walked into the house, or rather, mansion, a butler, who went by the name of James, had greeted them. Sesshomaru had found that most butlers went by the name James, Charles, or Forsythe. Come to think of it, the same went for chauffeurs. It must have been something they learned in school, one of the **Ten Commandments of Butlers**. _Thou shalt have the name of James, Charles, or Forsythe, and none other. Thou shalt not walk upon the floor, thou shalt skim across it._

James skimmed across the carpet, leading them to a parlour in which the owner of the cat, or so Sesshomaru presumed she was, was sitting in. Actually, the owner was not sitting in the room she was getting up from a chair. She arose with fluid grace and walked slowly over to his father. 

"Mr. Takashini," she breathed. Her voice was rough and raspy, like she didn't use it enough and had trouble remembering how to make it work. He hair was pulled back from her face, and yanked to the back of her skull tightly in elaborate bows and curls. Her face was a catlike, her eyes wide and angled slightly. Her nose was off, long and narrow; her cheeks too high allow her to be thought of as conventionally beautiful; her jaw was a tad too strong; her forehead was rather large. Although she was not beautiful, she carried herself as though she was, and that made all the difference. Her aura radiated happiness and an inner beauty Sesshomaru had never seen before. Even his mother was not like this odd woman before him. She wasn't even Japanese, which caused her too seem even more exotic then she already was. Even though his father got a wide array of guests, coloured guests were rare. This woman was not African, but of Asiatic Indian descent. 

She bowed slowly in front of his father and he watched as his father did the same. He was so engrossed in taking in the oddness of the woman before him, that he had forgotten to bow to her. His father noticed this and was about to give him a hard blow to the back to remind him, but the woman's arm lightly rapped his father's hand before he could do anything. 

She smiled up at his father and said, in that raspy voice of hers, "He is such a young child." 

His father looked at her and then motioned to him to bow, or say some sort of greeting.

Sesshomaru looked up at the woman. "I am humbled to make the acquaintance of such a beautiful lady," he said, remembering the many lines his father had embossed in his mind. He bowed. 

As he rose, the woman's laughter rang out through the richly furnished room. The room's décor matched well with her clothing, a kimono of deep purple silk, embroidered in rich silver threads in odd swirling patterns. Her shoes weren't visible, though for some reason, Sesshomaru doubted that she wore shoes. The room held several overstuffed deep green chairs and a loveseat of the same soft, forest green fabric. A large, wooden, oval coffee table sat in the centre of the arrangement. 

Sesshomaru wondered what the woman found so funny. He hoped he hadn't messed up his line. 

The woman looked down at him with an odd expression on her face. Even at his age now, he couldn't understand what it was… sometimes he didn't think he wanted to know what emotion was playing around in her dark brown orbs. For a moment, he thought he had seen pity, or remorse, or sadness… but he couldn't tell. 

When her laughter had ended, she had given him a sweet, sad smile, and patted his head. Looking up at his father, she had said, "This one…" she had smiled again, "this one is someone worth nurturing, Mr. Takashini." Then she had taken him by the hand and pulled him into the loveseat with her. She had looked out to his father and motioned for him to sit across from them. 

A maid walked in right then, with a platter of tea and biscuits. The woman placed tealeaves into each of three cups and gently poured bowling water over the leaves. She filled Sesshomaru's cup only halfway with water and then reached for another bowl for milk and used that to fill the rest of this cup. She looked to Mr. Takashini and asked him if he wanted sugar. He declined and took his tea as it was and took a biscuit from the tray before him. She smiled and looked to Sesshomaru, tilting her head to the side and asked him if he wanted sugar for his tea. He had nodded and watched as her nimble fingers placed a cube of sugar into his tea and then another. She had smiled at him and said something about children needing energy. 

Before she gave him the tea, she asked him a question. "Do you know my name?" 

Sesshomaru had looked at his father then, wondering what to do, but his father's face was covered by his teacup. Great, the one time he needed his guidance and he wasn't there. 

"No, ma'am, I cannot truthfully say that I do." Even at the age of seven, Sesshomaru knew the rules of proper speech, and followed them precisely. In no way did he want to anger his father. 

She handed him his tea and sipped at her own. Then his father and the still unnamed woman began to talk in a language other than Japanese and English. He wondered briefly about just what language they were speaking in and just what they were speaking of, but then he decided not to care about it. If it had anything to do with him, he would learn about it when he was at home. 

He finished his tea just as the adults stopped talking. Once he placed his tea down, the woman did as well. Then she picked up his teacup and swirled it a few times and then placed it upside down on his saucer. She then gave him a biscuit and began to speak in the strange language with his father yet again. 

Again, he was perplexed, but he didn't show it. Instead, he bit into the biscuit, which tasted quite good. Somehow it managed to taste of strawberries. Once he had finished, the woman put down her teacup and picked up his. 

Both Sesshomaru and his father watched as this happened. His father sent him a silent message to keep his mouth shut through his eyes. They watched as the woman smiled into the tealeaves. Sesshomaru realized that the woman was a sightseer, a fortune-teller. She could tell the future by peering into his tealeaves. He wondered briefly if he wanted to know what was held in his future. 

Her voice rasped out again. Sesshomaru wondered why it was so hoarse; perhaps she was recovering from a cough. "I sometimes wonder," she paused slightly and began again. "I sometimes wonder if what I see within my cups is true and real, or if what I see before me is real and true. I have learned over time that both are interrelated. What I see within my cups is tied directly to what I see before me and vice versa." She looked up dreamily to the lights and snapped her fingers aimlessly. Tinkling music came on at her sound. She seemed to be lost in thought. 

His father waited a few minutes before putting down his empty cup. He waited a few minutes more before speaking. "What do you see?" 

The woman looked at him, bemused. "What?" she asked. She held Sesshomaru's empty cup in her left hand. 

His father pressed on, "What do you see in his cup?" 

Her face was still blank. "Whose cup?" 

"His cup," replied his father. 

"And who is he?" 

"My son, the vagrant sitting dumb by your side." He turned his attention to Sesshomaru. "Tell her that it's your cup, you child!" He snarled out to Sesshomaru, but Sesshomaru did not recoil as he used to; he was used to his father's snarls. 

Sesshomaru faced the blank-eyed woman and spoke quietly, "That is my cup that you hold within your grasp. My father wishes to know what you see within it." 

She looked down at him and smiled. "AH, this cup. Of course, of course…" she trailed off as she stared into the cup. "I see what I thought I would see." She smiled up at the two of them, not seeming to notice the steam coming out of Takashini Senior's ears. 

"And…" growled his father, "just what was that?" 

"He will be strong," she began. "He will be everything you want and more and in that way, he shall be nothing that you want." 

"And what does that mean?" 

"It means what you think it means. Everything I have suspected is true. The wording is off, and that alters it a bit, but what I see is true. I want you to watch what you do with this one." She placed the cup down and stood. 

"I believe you came for a cat. I have many cats." She walked to the door and opened it. Once she realized that they weren't behind her, she turned, and spoke again, "Did you not want a cat?" 

The two Takashini men followed her out the door and tried to understand what had just happened. The woman led them down long aimlessly winding corridors. Finally, she stopped in front of a dark blue door. She opened it and allowed them to walk in. "Gentlemen," she said, as she shut the door behind them, "I present to you… my cat room." 

And a cat room it was. There were cats everywhere on every surface. There was furniture in the room, but all of it was covered with the odd fabric cats loved to scratch at and were smothered in cat hairs of various colours. Calicos, Persians, every kind of cat possible were in that room, or so it seemed to Sesshomaru. 

"Quick, child," his father's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Choose a cat suitable for Inuyasha." 

Sesshomaru blinked and looked around quickly. His eyes settled on a tiny patch of moving fur balls in the corner of the room. Slowly, he walked over and peered down upon the swirling mass of life. Several tiny kittens were mewing and crawling all over each other. A tiny ginger cat stood out from the rest. It was constantly being pounced upon, but after it was flattened, it would get up again… only to be squished again. 

"That one," he spoke. "The ginger kitty." 

The woman smiled from beside him. He wondered how she had gotten there so soundlessly without him noticing. She bent over and picked up the teeny kitten. "What a wonderful name," she said out loud. 

Sesshomaru was beginning to wonder if the woman still had all of her marbles in place. He wondered if she was a few short of a dollar. In short, he wondered if she was crazy. When had he said a name? 

His father broke his train of thought, "He _did_ choose an orange cat…." 

"A ginger cat," corrected the woman in her throaty voice. "And he has named it Kitty. Such a wonderful name." She glided past the other cats and out the door, going past his father who was watching her in quiet amazement. Sesshomaru deduced that she had foretold the cat he was going to choose. When he was older… he would never go to this woman again… To him, the future was meant to be a mystery. If someone knew what was going to happen to you… they had a power over you. 

He followed his father out of the room. 

The woman walked with them to their limousine. She waited until Sesshomaru sat down and had put on his seatbelt before putting the kitten in his lap. She gave him an awkward sort of hug and spoke quietly into his ear, without his father noticing. He noticed that she smelled odd; not bad, just… odd, like tea. "Take care of Kitty," she whispered. "Save him from the evil. Make his life good." Then she straightened and said, "Good day, Mssrs. Takashini." 

Once the ride home had been completed, Takashini Sr. and Jr. entered the mansion, Kitty crawling about Takashini Jr. The door opened to Inuyasha's bright face. 

"The maid said that you went to get me a present!" he exclaimed, happily. 

Their father smiled. "I have brought you a pet." 

The three of them walked down a hallway and into a parlour; one equally as grandiose as the one Sesshomaru had just had tea in with the mysterious woman. A woman whose name he did not know. Inuyasha and InuTaisho ignored Sesshomaru. 

"You have? Oh my god!" squealed Inuyasha. He reminded Sesshomaru of a piglet. "Did you finally get me an EMU?" A very… odd piglet. "Oh my gosh, I'm going to name it BOB! And call it Booby! Where is it?" 

"I did not get you an emu Inuyasha. Your birthday is not for another eleven months." 

"Oh? Then what pet did you get me? A _chinchilla?_ A rabid MONKEY?" 

Takashini Sr. smiled. "A kitten." 

Inuyasha's face fell. "A kitten?" he asked in a dull voice. "A kitten." "WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO GET ME A KITTEN?" screamed Inuyasha. "WHO? I HATE CATS! CATS SUCK!" 

"Inuyasha! You shall accept this gift graciously! Take of this cat well and perhaps I shall get you an emu. Fail to take care of it properly and your emu shall not arrive." He turned to Sesshomaru. "Give him the cat." 

_Kitten… It's a kitten._

"Why can't Sesshomaru take care of it?" pouted Inuyasha. 

InuTaisho answered, "Because he has no time to put up with such trivial matters." 

Sesshomaru ungraciously dumped Kitty into Inuyasha's outstretched arms. "His name is Kitty," he said in an even tone. His voice didn't give way though he felt like he was collapsing on the inside. The stupid runt of a half brother of his wouldn't take care of Kitty. Sesshomaru left the room, following his father. 

Inuyasha would mistreat the stupid thing and pull at his tail and ruin him and make ugly…. And he didn't care. At least, that was what he told himself. 

"KITTY?" spat out Inuyasha in disgust. "Who named him **KITTY?** That's one messed up name. Only a GIRL would name him KITTY!" He muttered, "I hate girls…" 

* * *

A few months later and Sesshomaru could see the damage Inuyasha had done to Kitty. His forgetfulness had caused Kitty to lose pounds of flesh and he now looked like an alley cat. Patches of his fur were missing from times when Inuyasha had tried to glue a harness onto him. Inuyasha would constantly forget that he _owned_ a cat, and for this reason, Kitty would be seen crouching along odd corridors of the mansion, half-starved. 

Once, Sesshomaru had been walking past Kitty with his father and noticed that Kitty had a limp. He soon realized why. InuTaisho went out of his way to kick the poor beast in the leg and sent Kitty sprawling halfway across the hallway. The kitten had moaned an odd cat sound and crawled away as quickly as it could. 

"Stupid cat," InuTaisho had said. "Doesn't do anything around here." To Sesshomaru, it sounded as though his father was trying to justify his abuse of the pitiable creature. It didn't work.

Sesshomaru had a wing of the house just to himself; the West Wing was his and his alone. Inuyasha's area was named the East Wing and his father's was the South Wing. None were allowed within the other's Wings unless if they were InuTaisho. InuTaisho could walk through the entire house. 

One night, lying on his back, Sesshomaru had heard a pitiful meow. Sitting up, he sat still until Kitty came into view, limping. The cat looked like a nuclear bomb survivor. His hair was half black now, half metallic green, as were the patches of skin that showed through. Inuyasha had taken it upon himself to try to colour the cat and in doing so, make him more "attractive." Sesshomaru doubted that blind people would find Kitty anything other than repulsive. 

Kitty crawled up to him, mewing pathetically. The unfortunate creature could barely make a noise. It's belly was bloated, but not from an overabundance of food, rather a lack of. Something stirred within Sesshomaru. Feeling… he pitied the creature. He tried to quash his pity, but he couldn't… even though his father had told him that only the weak pitied, he couldn't help but love this tiny abused creature. It had done the world no wrong. If anything, this was all Sesshomaru's fault. He was, after all, the one to bring Kitty to this mansion of horrors. 

Sesshomaru carried the kitten into his master bedroom and shut the door. He called for his maid on the intercom and requested the makings for a bowl of cereal. Milk and cereal were to be kept separate; he assured her that he would mix them himself. 

As he waited for his order, he stroked the poor kitten. Kitty backed away, scared, and again feeling stirred within him. The poor critter was scared of any kind of human contact. Sesshomaru stroked Kitty softly, murmuring sweetly. 

A knock sounded at the door, and they both jumped. 

Sesshomaru patted the kitten on the head and placed him in an empty shoebox and slid it under the bed. He walked to the doorway and took the tray from the maid. All the things there could be used in some way. The corn flakes he could crush and use as kitty litter until he bought some of the real kind and the milk could be used to nourish the kitten. 

He poured the milk out into the bowl and took Kitty out of his hiding place. The kitten slurped the milk eagerly, acting as though he had not eaten in ages. He probably hadn't. Sesshomaru crushed the corn flakes into tiny particles and was pleased to see that they performed the same duty as regular kitty litter. 

* * *

Several months later, Inuyasha finally noticed that his cat was missing. Everyday he would ask Sesshomaru if he had seen his cat, and Sesshomaru would answer that he hadn't. Which was, in a way true. Sesshomaru didn't think of Kitty as Inuyasha's cat. If Kitty really was Inuyasha's cat, then he would have known where Kitty was. He should have noticed Kitty's disappearance long ago. 

Kitty, of course, was not missing. In fact, Kitty was living it up in Hotel Sesshomaru's Closet. Not only did he have around the clock food and a strong exercise routine, but he also had his own Kitty Maid, or Litter Kitty… or whatever you called those automated kitty litter cleaners. He had re-grown his patchy coat and it now gleamed a beautiful orangey-white. Sesshomaru had taken it as his responsibility to make sure that he got all his shots and that his claws were trim and clean. 

Sesshomaru and Kitty had gained an odd sort of bond over the period of months they lived together. Sesshomaru had settled into a comfortable daily routine with the lovable kitten. 

Everyday, Sesshomaru would open his large, walk-in closet and pat the kitten on the head before leaving for the day. He would then open a can of cat food and pour out a dish of water for the cat. Sesshomaru only had to go to a half day of school and he was then sent to a tutor for an hour. After that, he worked with his father at his father's business, and after that he was to do his homework at home. Sounds pretty intense for a seven-year-old boy, right? Well, Sesshomaru was a pretty intense child. 

Once he got inside his room, he would open the closet and out would come Kitty. Sesshomaru would change and then he would do his homework with Kitty jumping around everywhere. Once he was finished with his work, he would play with Kitty and watch some TV or just read out loud to his literate feline friend. A friend who never scolded him for mispronouncing a word or not knowing what word meant, unlike his father. 

* * *

One day, Sesshomaru made a dire mistake, one that cost him very much. He forgot to shut the closet door before he left. Not thinking very well, and being half asleep, due to the fact that he had stayed up late the night before memorizing his father's business reports, the simple task of shutting his closet had slipped his mind. 

He had left his bedroom door open, so that InuTaisho could walk in and see that he was ready. He didn't notice Kitty walk out the door when he changed. When InuTaisho arrived, right on schedule, Sesshomaru didn't notice anything wrong. That was, not until he walked into the hallway and saw Kitty prancing down the hallway in front of him. 

Sure that he was hallucinating, he looked behind him to his closet door, and to his horror, he realized that it was wide open… He struggled to retain his composure as he and his father trekked down the corridor. Perhaps, his father wouldn't notice? 

But no, InuTaisho did notice. "What on earth is this cat doing here?" he asked, to no one in particular. "Isn't this the one Inu's looking for?" He growled. "Stupid kid, I thought he lost it." 

He began to walk off and Sesshomaru sighed in relief. And then to his horror, his father pulled back his right leg and kicked poor, innocent Kitty right in the gut, causing him, to slam against the wall with a sickening number of cracking noises. 

Sesshomaru stood frozen in the hallway, staring at his companion. Oh no… Kitty… never again would Kitty meow playfully to him for milk. Never again would the dear kitten purr contentedly as he rubbed his fur. Never again would he give Kitty a bath. Never again would Kitty stare into his hazel eyes with his deep green and bash his forehead against his own. Never again would… never again would he have another memory of Kitty. 

"WELL? Boy, why have you stopped? Get your butt over here! We have work to do!" His father stomped off and Sesshomaru followed, dumbstruck. 

InuTaisho stopped a maid who was walking past. "There's a cat in the hallway back there," his father told her, pointing behind him. "See that it gets taken care of." 

The maid nodded and walked in the direction of Kitty. 

Sesshomaru and InuTaisho walked out into the real world. The real world where cats didn't have nine lives. The real world where leaving a door open could kill your best friend. The real world. How Sesshomaru hated it. 

"Always kick them when they're down," InuTaisho informed Sesshomaru as they stalked through the halls of the mansion. "Always beat the little guy, always tear away their pride, their dreams, their everything. That makes them so much easier to mould, so much easier to use." His father chose that time to smile and rub Sesshomaru's head. It was a ruthless smile. 

* * *

"Mr. Takashini?" 

"Yes?" 

"We're here Mr. Takashini," said Aaron. "Just through that door." 

Sesshomaru looked at Aaron. Aaron had green eyes and his hair was orangey-red and, and, and… Sesshomaru quashed the thought. 

"Then why are you still here? Have you no halls to 'patrol' anymore?" he asked, spitting out the words. 

Aaron looked up and grimaced. "Yes sir, I do sir." He backed away quickly and ran around the corner. 

Sesshomaru smiled. Aaron reminded him of… Kitty. Except that Aaron was so much more human and cowardly. Ah, he felt nice. Already he had quashed a spirit. Just like his father. He frowned. He had never wanted to be like his father. How odd. He wondered if he should continue crushing the dreams of random people for power rushes. If his father had liked the power rush… then he was becoming like his father and that was bad, wasn't it? He had never liked his father, and to be called "just like him" was an insult to his very soul. He was nothing like his father…was he? He wondered why these thoughts had never occurred to him before. He wondered if he should thank Aaron. 

He stopped his thoughts. These were deep things that needed to be dealt with in detail in teh privacy of his own home. He opened the door to the office. 

* * *

LA DEE DAA DEE DAAAAAAAAA… I am done… WOOT! Go me. LOVE ME, LOVE ME, SAY THAT YOU LOVE ME… AND GIMME A REVIEW! =) Oh yeah, I'm giving you subliminal messages in my song. Did you see it? I bet you didn't. It's so SUBLIMINAL. Anywho… oh my lord… hold me now…. Sing with me… la da dee dee… 

Okay, so I made that up. FWAH! Review me or become infected with NISHIES. You may also have to fear the wrath of my snazzy old retainer if you don't. 


	4. Four: A Clash Of Interest

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **

Yo.

I've always wanted to start off an A/N with "Yo." Actually, I haven't. Oh well. Anyway, here I am with a new chapter. Let you all rejoice. Be happy, and dance. I should export the beginning chapters and make them less grammatically incorrect. But I'm lazy; I may or may not do that.

So, I just realized, Sesshomaru's a demon. A young one.

Rats, I've messed up on the aging process. Let's see. Hmm. Okay, this is my way to make the ages make sense. Right now, he _looks_ seventeen in human years (going on eighteen) and in demon years that's… a lot. Like, over 900 apparently. Don't ask me to do the math, I don't know how. Anyway, that also makes Inuyasha part demon, but he age is messed up 'cause he's half-and-half, so he's sixteen in human years and in demon years he's… well, I don't really care about him. He's a bitch. So, let's just say he's younger than Sesshomaru. But the demon year/aging thing doesn't really matter. I'm just clearing this up for you and for me.

Any questions you may or may not have may or may not be answered in the review responses located at the end of this chapter. If you want answers as to why I haven't updated in a long time, check out the review response to **Pyro89**.

* * *

**Wicked Heart**

"…" - Words

_Italics - _Thoughts

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. I do, however, own all of my OC's including Tony who will appear in this chapter.

* * *

**Wicked Heart**

**Chapter Four**

**A Clash of Interest**

* * *

When Kagome arrived at her classroom, she realized that yet again, Tony was not there. Alas, how upsetting and how not shocking. The damned bastard spent more days skipping than he did in class, and yet he always got better marks than she did. 

She sidled down the first aisle and hopped over one of the desks in the back so that she was surrounded on both sides by empty desks. Tony sometimes took one up, but the other one, the one to her right, was always empty.

It was a class which she enjoyed, even though she was a bit lonely every once in a while. Her marks were high, which was good; they were usually the highest in the class, except for the days when Tony actually showed up. The damned bastard kept getting perfect on all of the math contests. She smiled at that thought; if she called Tony anything but a bastard, he would be offended.

Her class hadn't started, yet most of the twelfth graders were already there; the seats ahead of her were filled with chattering students, mundanely or excitedly (depending on whether they had wanted to take the course or not) discussing last day's lesson and their homework. They jabbered constantly debating over what to wear for prom and just who was going to be valedictorian.

None of them asked her for her views on anything; they never did.

Although the twelfth graders didn't hurl insults at her left and right, they were just as bad as the students in her grade. They were polite, yes; none of them wanted to tarnish their chances at getting through school without a detention. They acknowledged her presence most of the time, which many females in her grade didn't do. But, when they spoke to her, well, it reminded her of the way the people on the soap opera "Green Genie" treated one of it's "supposedly" prostituting lawyer characters. She was treated with respect, because she was an equal of her colleagues in the area of intelligence. But, due to the rumours surrounding her (rumours which were untrue), they pegged her as a prostitute and so, spoke to her as quickly as possible without many words and then disappeared. They (the twelfth graders, not the lawyers) didn't hate her (Kagome, not the lawyer), but they didn't like her either. She was just _there_ to them. She was something to be dealt with quickly and then forgotten.

She settled into her seat and prepared for another class in which no one would speak to her, except, occasionally the teacher.

It was, in fact, the teacher who had brought all of the boys into the class; the ones who could handle the course and the ones who couldn't. The teacher was, in short, extremely beautiful and all of the males of the school knew it. However, Kagome was unsure if the teacher actually realized how pretty she was. She was a nice woman, but seemed oblivious to how her male students all panted after her. She was either really dense, or a really good actress. She had two pet peeves; she didn't like people who were late, or people who skipped. In short, she didn't like Tony. Which was a shame, since Tony was a nice person once you got to know him.

The teacher walked in. Kagome opened up her romance novel. Once the teacher started talking math, she'd open her textbook.

"Okay, so now, it's time to get into pairs for a project!"

Kagome started and a couple of the twelfth graders shot her piteous looks while several others looked at her in disdain. Kagome realized that those looks were probably the same ones they shot at cockroaches when they saw them skittering across their floors. Kagome pressed her lips together; she didn't need, want, or even care about their pity. She could do better than any of them. If it wasn't for her social standing (or rather, lack thereof) she'd have been the most sought after partner in the class. Well, next to Tony. Everyone seemed to like Tony for some reason, or at least respect him in some way. It was odd how the jocks let someone like Tony budge in front of them in the lunch line or how the nerds always tried to give him their homework.

She stuffed her nose back into her book and feigned a look of indifference while she chewed on her lower lip. She hoped they got to pick partners. She really wanted Tony. She nibbled at her lip more.

"So," the teacher began. "I think we'll have fun."

She always thought they'd have fun.

"This is a new project, I haven't done it with any of my other classes yet."

Of course not, they were her special class.

"This is my special class."

Now let's begin with me explaining.

"Now, let's begin with me explaining."

Damn, the woman was as predictable as a book; a not so very good book for that matter.

"So, we'll be doing our projects on…" she paused, probably for effect. She did, however, look at her books to check what exactly they were going to do projects on. She was very scatterbrained. And her breasts were big. And she often wore shirts she should have thrown out a year ago because they were too tight across the chest. The boys loved her. And she was oblivious to it all.

"Famous mathematicians!" she finished. "Won't that be exciting?" she asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

She was greeted by the excited faces of boys and the somewhat disgusted faces of girls. Oh, and Kagome's face hidden behind a romance novel.

"Now, you may get into pairs!" There was a scuffle as half of the class dragged their desks around so that they could sit next to their desired partners. Once the activity settled down, the room was full of coupled desks. Well, it was almost full of coupled desks. In the back of the classroom, completely isolated by two feet on both sides, was Kagome, calmly reading her romance novel.

"Oh my, Kagome!" exclaimed Ms. Kelly, putting a hand to her left breast. "It seems you've being left out!" She looked out to the rest of the class. "Can someone take Kagome into their group?"

Before anyone could answer, and God forbid they did, even if it was for bonus marks, Kagome spoke out, "I'll be Tony's partner." She wondered how the teacher would take it.

"Oh, but he's hardly ever here, Kagome!" she exclaimed sadly.

Kagome gave her a blank look from over her novel. "So?"

"So," Ms. Kelly said, "it is truly not fair to you."

"It is fair." Kagome continued to read her book. "He does his share, and I do mine."

The women gave an exasperated sigh. "Kagome, Tony is not here. He's hardly ever here."

"And when he is, he gets the highest marks."

"Kagome, you cannot be the partner to an absent student."

"I have before."

There was a knock at the door. "We will continue this discussion shortly," she said to Kagome, before walking to the door. The class broke into quiet whispers; no doubt about it, they were talking about her. All those quick, one-second glances they kept shooting her were a dead giveaway. She calmly ignored them as she always did.

Once the door began to open, Kagome lifted her book in front of her and pretended to be engrossed in it as she paid the utmost attention to the teacher.

"Class, this is our new student!"

Crap. Kagome kept the book raised as she flipped the page. Ms. Kelly was going to pair her up with the newbie. Damn it. Kagome continued her assault on her lower lip, effectively removing her lip-gloss from it.

"You're just in time," Kagome heard Ms. Kelly continue on. "Kagome and I were just having a discussion."

Translation: We were having a fight. A big one. And you're my trump card. Wahoo!

"It was about pairing her up with an absent student."

Translation: It is about pairing her up with someone I don't like. And now she can't be with him!

Kagome put her book down on the desk in front of her, still refusing to look at the teacher. "I have a partner."

"Why yes, now you do! Why don't you go sit down next to her? Kagome's the one with all the desks around her. Kagome, your new partner's name is—"

"Tony."

"It's Sesshomaru, actually," spoke a voice from her right. It continued on lightly, and as it did, Kagome froze, not wanting to look up. "And if I am not mistaken, you are the female from this morning."

"Great!" interrupted Ms. Kelly. "And now that you two have become acquainted, let's—"

"Yo." Tony was standing in the doorway to the classroom, vaguely reminiscent to Kagome of a Greek god at the moment. "Did I miss anything important?"

"Tony… how nice of you to join us," spat out Ms. Kelly. "As a matter fact, you did miss something important. We've all just broken into pairs to work for a project."

"A project, eh?" Tony continued to lean in the doorway, the fluorescent light of the hallway causing his spiked blue and black streaked mohawk to glow with in an oddly appealing manner. His head swung from the teacher to Kagome, his eyes gleaming and the corners of his lips curving up slowly. In many ways, Tony reminded Kagome of a fox. A deviously tricky fox. "I call Kagome."

"She won't let you," said Kagome, sending an overly sad look at Tony which screamed 'Be my partner or die!'

"That's correct. I will not." Ms. Kelly's probably plastic chin jutted out at Tony as she glared at him. "I won't."

"Why not?" wheezed Tony, looking suitably hurt. "I'm always Kagome's partner." He crossed his arms across his chest and frowned at the teacher, looking confused.

Ms. Kelly smiled in what she believed to be triumph. "She already _has_ a partner."

"Who?" Tony pushed off from the doorway and dragged his feet across the floor to his desk next to Kagome. He gestured to the white-haired male sitting to the right of Kagome. "Old man over there?"

Sesshomaru's eyes darkened. "My name is Sesshomaru, fox-boy," he said.

"And I'm Tony. Nice to meet ya, dog-boy. So, where do we start?" Tony poked Kagome's romance novel. "Surely we're going to work on something to do with math, right?"

"You, you can't be in their group!" stuttered Ms. Kelly, finally regaining her senses.

"Are you suggesting that he join you, Ms. Kelly?" asked Kagome as she pulled some loose leaf paper and a pen from her bag.

"What?" Ms. Kelly looked at Kagome confused.

"Well, where else can he go?" Kagome gestured to the class with her left arm. "In case you haven't noticed, there are an odd number of students in this class. And I doubt that any of the other students would want to have Tony in their group." Actually, she didn't. Tony had this thing which made everyone want to be his partner, or in his group, or by his table. Except in this class; here, he just wanted to be with Kagome and woe betide anyone who stood in his way.

"I… fine!" Ms. Kelly's arms went up into the air with her exasperation. "Tony, you're in Kagome's group. Happy?" She frowned, rubbing her elbows with her hands. "You have the rest of the period to work on this project as well as four more classes. After the last, you will be required to present your findings on PowerPoint. Go on now. Work!" Ms. Kelly settled in behind her desk and made shooing motions with her hands. "Work!"

"Let's do Aryabatha," drawled Tony. "Let's use it as an excuse to dress weird. Let's dress old school prep. Kagome, you can wear pearls and I'll use grease in my hair." He turned his attention to Sesshoumaru who was staring disdainfully at him. "With that white hair," Tony made a dismissive gesture with his hand, "you can be an old man."

Sesshoumaru showed no sign that he had been insulted and just stared at Tony. He turned to Kagome as he moved his desk so that their three desks were arranged vaguely in the shape of a triangle. Sesshomaru was facing Kagome and Tony and had his back to the front of the room. "Excuse me, but do we not need to do any research?"

Kagome blinked and was instantly gratuitous to the young man for not bringing up their earlier embarrassing episode. She blushed in remembrance. "Oh," she said, also remembering the fact that the white-haired male had just asked a question. "Well, Tony and I have already read up on Aryabatha, so that makes the project easier." She bit at her lower lip, suddenly realized that not everyone researched random mathematical prodigies in their spare time. "If you want, we can hit the books again; Tony and I know all the good ones."

One of Sesshomaru's delicate eyebrows was raised. "When did you research Aryabatha?" His eyes showed no sign of disbelief, though his voice was full of sarcasm. "Not that I doubt you or anything."

How rude.

"Free time," answered Kagome.

"You knew about this ahead of time?" Sesshomaru's views on the female were changing. Perhaps she wasn't a preppy female.

"No, we researched him a couple of months ago, while we were bored."

"I see."

Okay, perhaps she was a nerd.

Kagome blinked at him. "Do you need to do any research?"

Sesshomaru leaned back in his wooden chair. "No, I was merely surprised at your initiative. You do not seem to be the type of people who would read up on obscure mathematical figures."

Tony broke in, "Ah yes, well, we clever folk, we're surprising." He gave Sesshomaru a flashy grin which seemed to show just a bit too much teeth to Kagome. It almost seemed like a snarl.

Sesshomaru smiled, as though Tony had made a joke. "Of course," he answered, smiling slightly. "You're very quick too, aren't you?"

"Very quick. I jump over lazy dogs in my free time as I read up on obscure mathematical figures."

"You should be careful. One day, the dog might rear up and bite you."

Kagome blinked. Somehow, the conversation seemed to have taken on a double meaning. "Uh… am I missing something?" she asked, slightly perturbed but mostly curious.

She knew something was up by the silence that settled over the small group. Sesshomaru quirked his eyebrow at Tony and Tony answered with a shake of his head. Sesshomaru nodded and relaxed as Tony placed his arm over Kagome's shoulders.

Kagome's eyes narrowed. "Okay, I totally did miss something. What's going on?"

Sesshomaru whispered quietly under his breath, "Your brain is inferior to ours. Do not try to comprehend us."

Kagome gave him a look. "Excuse me?" All she had heard was a murmur, much like the drone of a fly, but less annoying.

Tony clarified for her, clearing his throat before he spoke. "The other groups are in fear of us." His eyes locked with Sesshomaru's. "They will be no competition for us."

The three of them sat there awkwardly, until the bell rang and broke them out of their trance. Well, it broke Kagome out of her trance of watchfulness. She continued to watch Tony and Sesshomaru carefully though, as she gathered her things and readied to leave. They were as still as stones, silently staring at each other.

"Right," she spoke, breaking the silence. "Um, I'm going to go now." She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder. "Because the bell rang. Hello?" She took a step forward and waved her hand between their faces, effectively stopping their staring contest and making the both of them stare up at her.

She chose to look at Tony. She couldn't look into Sesshomaru's amber eyes without blushing. "Um, I'm going to go now." She gestured vaguely to the door and became flustered as she realized that Sesshomaru was still gazing up at her face, his expression blank. She wondered futilely at what he was thinking. "Call me later, okay Tony?" She pressed her lips together. "Or stop by, 'kay?"

Tony's brown eyes searched hers. "Is it bad?"

Kagome sighed and a corner of her mouth twitched. "Bad enough." She looked to the door again and blushed, still achingly knowledgeable of Sesshomaru's heavy gaze on her. "Ciao," she said, waving at the two of them.

She stepped out of the class as quickly as she could, without seeming like she was running away. Gah, that Sesshomaru really freaked her out. And his hair was too shiny. She wondered vaguely what it felt like.

* * *

Tony stood up soon after Kagome waltzed out of the room. "Come on, let's take a walk outside." He started walking towards the door and wasn't surprised when Sesshomaru arrived right beside him less than a second later, hair still perfect, to fall in step with him. 

"So… where do you want to meet? Whatever time's good with you is good with me and Kagome." Tony stalked down the hallway, eyes dangerous, darting about as though suspicious of everyone. He yanked open a door to the yard and started down a gravel path.

Sesshomaru walked in silence beside him and in a few moments, they fell into step yet again. The schoolyard was large and had vast, rolling expanses of lawn mixed in with forest-like combinations of flowers and trees and random bushes. The school had tried hard to make a natural atmosphere for the students to unwind in. Unfortunately, all the natural scenery was a five minute walk away from the building, and none of the students had the time nor the patience to walk out into the "wilderness" at lunchtime or between classes, when they were forced to move from one corner of the building to the other.

"So?" Tony shoved his hands into the pockets of his black pants. "What time?"

"She belongs to you?"

Tony scrunched his nose in disgust and snarled at Sesshomaru. "Stupid dog," he spat out. "Humans don't belong to anyone." He turned his face forwards and continued his march through the wilderness as if he were alone.

"You didn't answer my question." Sesshomaru paused to look more closely at a bush at his right. It was rather large and came up to his nose. Tony had stopped in his tracks and his hands were clenching and unclenching. He seemed to be taking deep breaths.

How cute.

Tony spoke without turning around. "Leave her alone."

"Defensive." Sesshomaru sniffed at the bush, taking in the heady scent of its flowers.

Tony turned around and shoved his fists into his pockets. "This isn't your turf," he said to Sesshomaru's back.

Sesshomaru continued his investigation on the bush. "It's not claimed land either."

"It's mine," growled Tony.

Sesshomaru turned around and leant against a nearby tree. He looked at his hand, examining his cuticles. "And yet, Kagome is not." He looked up at Tony. "Why haven't you used your … 'ways' on her?"

Tony scowled at Sesshomaru and moved so that he too leaned against a tree. His hands left his pockets once more as he crossed his arms across his chest. "If she was to fall for me, I would want her to fall on her own." He paused. "Not trip over my foot."

"How noble of you," said Sesshomaru, suddenly absorbed by his nails once more.

Tony chose to stare at the nest of a bird. "I, unlike some people, am noble."

Sesshomaru snorted, somehow making the sound elegant. "And conceited."

"One cannot afford modesty in this world."

Sesshomaru continued to speak as if he was addressing the weather. "You're failing school." He smiled at this little tidbit of information and looked up to Tony to see his reaction.

Tony put a hand in the air and smiled impishly. "And yet I will graduate, enter a prestigious university, and graduate with honours."

The white-haired male's smile left his face. He spoke in a voice devoid of emotion, "Mapped out so nicely. It would be a shame if you were to be in an accident."

"Same for you." Tony's smile remained in place.

"True." Sesshomaru looked at Tony and Tony looked right back at him.

"So, you'll leave her alone." It was more of a statement than a question.

Sesshomaru shrugged. "If she leaves me alone." He paused. "How many more of you are there?"

"Enough. I suppose the half-dog's your brother?"

"Half-brother," spat out Sesshomaru, his eyes glinting red for a second.

Tony smirked, "I see."

"How high are you in standing at this school?" It was always good to know whom not to piss off. Yet. In the end, Sesshomaru would be the leader. Or at least the co-leader if the current leader was of good company.

"I am Tony, King of the Fox Tribe, leader of the demons in this academy. I lead all. I keep the masses down. Kick all the all-mighty wannabe conquerors' asses."

"You're a moderator?" Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow, slightly appalled at this fact. This… fox was the leader of this school? How… unsettling.

"Of sorts."

"How'd you get your position?"

Tony smiled and swung his head a bit. "Trying to find a way to dethrone me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow right back at Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru feigned a look of disappointment. He had been stupid to think that Tony would speak easily. "Must you be so cynical?"

"Always."

Sesshomaru pushed off of his tree. "I should go now."

"What about Kagome?" asked Tony, agitation starting to show on his face.

"What about her?"

There was a pause and they took it as a chance to size each other up. Sesshomaru knew that size as a human had nothing to do with size as a demon. Tony could be five inches tall when he morphed, or 500 feet tall.

"She would look nice on my arm," was Sesshomaru's answer.

"Better mine that yours," snorted Tony.

"Is that a challenge?" Sesshomaru smiled.

"Never." Tony looked at Sesshomaru, somewhat disgusted. "She's not an object."

"So?"

Tony continued on in a sing-song voice. "You'll have competition."

Sesshomaru scoffed. "Who?" No one was as good as he was at wooing females.

Tony frowned, looking as though he was concentrating hard. He held up a hand and starting ticking off fingers. "Kouga, your brother—"

"Half-brother!" snarled Sesshomaru.

Tony looked up at Sesshomaru, slightly amused. "Touchy, touchy!" He put his hands in the air in front of himself and smiled. "She's part miko."

Sesshomaru stared at Tony in shock. "She's what?"

"Part miko." Tony smiled a devilish smile and Sesshomaru saw part of the demon inside him. "If she wanted to, with one touch, she could burn you to ashes." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that."

"What hasn't she done so already?"

Tony shrugged. "She's nice?"

Sesshomaru gave him the same blank stare he had been giving Kagome in the classroom.

"All the demons want her."

"Not you?" asked Sesshomaru.

"I said all."

"But you are content to stay on the sidelines like this?"

Tony took a deep breath and leaned against his tree. "The way I see it… I'm closer to her than the ones that are after her will ever be." He smiled a vicious smile. "Besides," he said, locking eyes with Sesshomaru, "if they hurt her, I'll be there to pick up the pieces."

"Clever."

Tony smiled in contentment. "Very."

"I shall go now." Sesshomaru walked away from Tony. "Good-bye," he said as he walked back towards the school.

"Ciao," came Tony's reply. "Lord of the Western Lands."

Sesshomaru involuntarily paused at those words, but continued walking. He was confused. What were these abstract emotions flowing through him? Even indirectly, when he spoke of her, these emotions would come to life within him. How… confusing.

He went over the information he had learned about her. She was a miko, part miko. And yet, there was a healthy population of demons traipsing along the corridors of the school. A true miko would have destroyed them all with her healing touch. But she hadn't. Why?

Perhaps… she didn't know she was a miko. Or was in denial. The humans of this age were greatly out of touch with magic and relied on science when a simple magic spell could cure their ailments. And if Kagome did not know about herself being a miko, it was safe to assume that she did not know about demons and that she did not believe in them.

He considered putting more thought into the subject, but rejected that idea immediately as he realized it would entail spending more than two minutes thinking about a human. His lips formed a scowl as he stalked back into the school. A group of giggling ninth graders froze at the sight of him and pressed against each other, trying to get away from him as he stalked past.

What was wrong with him? Spending time thinking about a human? A female human? One who wasn't even really that pretty.

How…

_Nasty_.

He needed to get to class. And when he got home, he was going to go over some stock quotes to see how his company was coming along without him to head it. God damn his father.

God damn that miko for popping into his thoughts. The more he tried not to think of her, the more he did.

Stupid pink elephants.

* * *

**x.Reviews.x**

**lyn: **Writing more now.

**caley:** Yep, his dad killed the innocent cat. And yes, it was sad, and it's bloody wonderful that InuTaisho's dead.

**Mary773:** Well, part of it's funny, and part of it's messed. I don't know, it's really just a mish-mash of genres and I liked adding comedy in to lighten the mood.

**WolfStarLight:** I am continuing to write.

**Strawberrylover:** I'm calm. I won't have a heart attack. At least, not yet. I'm going to finish this story first, I promise.

**SilverWolfBaby:** Yes, that was sad. Alas, you and many people don't like my version of InuTaisho. Oh well, that was the point.

**Rynnie:** Alack, I have made you cry. I'm not sure if I should be happy or upset. I'll be both. Happily upset am I.

**-Richelle-:** Thanks for the compliment. ) I love it when people tell me I portray characters well. It does wonders for my already inflated ego.

**The Couples Writer:** Nope, anything but Nishies. Nishies is when one of my clones comes after you and, well I'm not sure what they're supposed to do, but I'm guessing that it's painful. I wouldn't know; I've never had Nishies. You'll give me ice cream if I continue writing? How wonderful; I'm both intrigued and enthralled. You say you haven't found any grammar or spelling mistakes? Alas, I wish you were my English teacher. I can see millions of them everywhere; I'm on the verge of taking down the story to re-do all the grammar. But thanks to the export button, I will be able to do it without losing my reviews. I think. Thanks so much for the wonderful review.

**kagie-chan:** You think I'm cute and funny? Wow, I feel loved. And hot. And yes, I am writing more now. Lol, I sound like a guy who can't get a date.

**killerkitty1106:** Alas, your review leaves me with more questions than answers. Tell me, why is this a great fic? I need examples, human! What am I doing wrong, what am I doing right? Here I am left in the cold, wondering. Alas, I am le confused. I'm also updating as you so kindly requested me to do so.

**d-e-m-o-n-i-c-m-i-k-o:** Lord, your name is hard to spell out. I'm glad you think this is a good story, but, as I said in the response above, why is this a good story? C'mon people, I need some feedback. I crave it!

**Willow Somers**: I have to e-mail you. Apparently. Yes, yes I do. And I will. Now. Soon. I need a cookie.

**DemonWicca:** I'm glad you like the way I write. I also loved the part about the butlers. It makes sense! And alas for him, InuTaisho, is in fact, dead. That's why Sesshomaru has to go to Tokyo to live with Inuyasha; his dad's will was all like, "Do this or lose millions of dollars, biotch!" But in a much nicer, more legal way.

**nuria:** Updating… now.

**binab86:** Continuing yes, I am. It was sad what happened to Kitty. Sango? Her? In here? Hmm, good question. I'll have to see. Would you want her in here? I'm not sure how I would fit her in. Great, now I have so much more to think about. Argh.

**SilentBrat:** Sarcasm is very funny. It is amazingly funny. Except when people believe it. People like my mom.

**Pyro89:** Ack, I had brain blockage! I had writer's block! I had no access to a computer! I was kicked off the Internet! I had a lack of ideas! Okay, so those aren't very good reasons/excuses. Um, well, I'm suffering from depression right now (seeing both a doctor and a counsellor) so that might have been one of the many factors as to why I haven't updated in so long. Argh, I hate telling people I'm depressed; I always seem to use it as an excuse. It's not! Erhm, that was more information than what I wanted to share. Oh… I'm glad that you think this is "killer."

**Teenage-Angstist:** I'm so glad that you adore me and my writing ways. That makes seven. I would also love to be like Beatrice when I grow up. Actually, I'd rather be Lillian. She's seen some wild things, ya know. She's wicked cool for an old woman. I hope I'm keeping this "shiiot" up.

**RavenSilverKat:** You're a cat? Cool. I've never had a cat read my stories before. Oh wait, yes I have. Never mind. I guess you're the second. I will update… um… now.

**white-niko:** I'm glad you love it. Though I'm not sure what I'm supposed to review. And I'm not quite sure if you want me to love you or if you're sending me a message full of love. Oh well, either way it's all good.

**kagomesdance: **Glad you think it's super awesome. I get a 10/10? Oh my, I'm blushing. Thank you so much for the rating, Brooke. It truly boosted my ego.

_And so ends this review response session._

* * *

Does anyone understand the reference to pink elephants? 


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